Food, Inc.

I love watching films that make my blood boil. I love it even more when those films happens to be documentaries. There is just something about real situations, however skewed an issue may be presented, that gets to me. Michael Moore is a figure whose work can be polarizing, yet each topic he's investigated has resinated with me. Health care, gun control, the Bush administration's incompetence. Food, Inc. is no different. This is a film that examines the current state of our food industry, how food is "made" and how the animals, and the crops we grow, are treated and mass-produced. And I'll be damned if it didn't get me angry.

For the record, I'm an unapologetic lover of all things meat, someone who has never given the briefest thought to vegetarianism and will suck down the flesh of animals until the day I die. But that doesn't mean I want those animals, with the flesh I so cravingly want, treated poorly. Wrangling chickens, throwing them into tiny crates, kicking them, this is not how a living being should be treated. The same goes for cows and pigs. Food, Inc. delves into the world of livestock "farming," showing just how broken the system is. It's no wonder we know so little about the food we buy, with the companies working so hard to hide it from us. Robert Kenner, the man behind Food, Inc. does everything he can to expose the industry for all its faults, hoping a more transparent system will emerge.

The film itself, which not only covers how animals are "made" into food, but also examines the wild and crazy world of corn, is well-structured and beautifully shot. Interviews are done with farmers who provide their animals to the big name companies, figures far more sympathetic than you might believe. There are also interviews with farmers doing things the old-fashioned way, what with grass-fed beef and outdoors and dignity. Viewers are treated to a glimpse of how things used to be, how things can be, if only we work to change how things are done now. Kenner lets the words and images of the people he interviews say it all, relying less on showmanship and entertainment.

Food, Inc. may not inspire an instantaneous change in viewers, but it should cause some critical thinking. There is hope for a new system, one with less hormones and cruelty and corn, but it is up to the consumers of the world to demand that change. Let Food, Inc. get under your skin, let it anger you, because that is exactly what is needed.

Genre - Documentary (4)

Screenplay (4)

Acting (-)

Production (4)

Directing (4)

Religulous

A documentary. By Bill Maher. About religion. Can it get any more exciting than this? Not for this reviewer.

Religulous is an examination of the worlds religions, but instead of being boring and pandering to the religious zealots, Maher challenges peoples faiths - right to their faces. Some may call it crude, some heresy, while some may issue a fatwa against him for opening his big mouth. But it is about time we question the religions that govern so many minds across the globe. Maher isn't aiming to avoid bias, he wants you to defend your beliefs against the real world you live in. When everything we do is based on facts and evidence, yet decisions are made based on religions created thousands (or decades) of years ago. Some will be offended, some enlightened, but everyone will take something from it. Maher hopes that something is reason, and this is where is argument his strongest. Reason is the tool we use everyday to survive, so why bother holding on to archaic beliefs that no longer stand up against scientific evidence? Wars are fought under the guise of religiosity, and the fate of the planet is in the hands of the most radical believers. Can we change? Bill would like to believe so.

Genre - Documentary (3)

Screenplay (3)
Acting (-)
Production (3)
Directing (3)