FOOD INC.

Director: Robert Kenner
With: Eric Schlosser, Michael Pollan
Run Time: 94 minutes
Country: USA
Year: 2009
Language: English
Rating:

You are what you eat – a simple expression that bears scary implications as you watch Food, Inc. Director Robert Kenner draws upon the searing reportage of authors Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma) to explore how modern developments in food production pose grave risks to our health and environment.

These writers aren’t radicals or even vegetarians (Schlosser admits that his favourite meal is a hamburger and fries), but they are crusaders when it comes to exposing problems and naming offenders. The documentary never resorts to stunts to make its point – just solid journalism, including hidden cameras that reveal unseemly practices. Food, Inc. explains how unfettered corporations exploited laws and subsidies to create shocking monopolies. In one example, we learn how the food conglomerate Monsanto expanded its control over soybeans from two per cent of the American market to ninety per cent in the last dozen years. Monsanto has the legal muscle of a Supreme Court decision, enabling it to litigate aggressively against small farmers; the decision was written by Justice Clarence Thomas, who happens to be a former Monsanto lawyer.

In opposition to these powerful interests are other interviewed sources, from a Republican mother who lost her two-year-old son to E. coli poisoning, to the founder of Stonyfield Farm Organic Yogurt, who flouts conventional left-wing dogma by seeing a positive side to Walmart.

The faces and landscapes featured in this film are beautifully photographed by cinematographer Richard Pearce. Two decades ago, he directed the drama Country, starring Sam Shepard and Jessica Lange, a film that heralded the decline of the family farm. Now his camera captures the industry that replaced that era. Along the way, we hear stories of heartbreak and outrage, but the film carefully channels these emotions toward opportunities for activism. Watching Food, Inc. gives you a strong appetite for better meals.

“With a constituency limited to anyone who eats, Food, Inc.
is a civilized horror movie for the socially conscious, the nutritionally
curious and the hungry.” – John Anderson, Variety

Reviews: http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/foodinc

Official Site: http://www.foodincmovie.com/

DocsPlus09 Schedule October 19 - The Cove October 19 - Every Little Step October 20 - Act of God October 20 - Man on Wire October 21 - Food Inc. October 21 - Unmistaken Child October 22 - Fierce Light: When Spirit Meets Action October 22 - Prom Night in Mississippi