Food, Inc. (2009/Magnolia DVD)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: B Documentary: B
To the dismay of some oligopolic food companies, Robert
Kenner’s Food, Inc. (2009) tells the
continuing story of how our food system is not in the Grade-A shape it used to
be and why. Other releases (Fast Food Nation, parts of Wake Up Screaming, reviewed elsewhere
on this site) have already begun to cover the issue, but this never-long-enough
91-minutes documentary has much to say in what is one of the most censored
stories of our time.
After the industry was cleaned up in the early 20th
Century, the 1980s brought on too many merges and acquisitions that allowed for
four very powerful food companies in the processing and sales of meat
alone. They have been able to manipulate
the authority of government they should abide by to intimidate anyone who
criticizes their practices. This
includes selling genetically engineered foods without labeling them (the
Europeans rejected the sale of such food 100% knowing their effect on people is
unknown, meaning U.S. citizens are unknowingly guinea pigs in what seems like a
sick experiment no one knows about), slaughter houses for meat are less clean
that ever, one company is using ammonia to soak their meat before selling it to
kill the deadly e coli virus instead of keeping their place clean to begin
with, farmers are being squeezed and put into insane debit while the
multi-nationals make most of the money and companies selling genetically
engineered food are harassing farmers in the name of keeping their patents
theirs.
For instance, Monsanto (the former toy plastic model kit
maker dubbed “mon-Satan” by those who despise them most) have a genetically
engineered soy bean they are thrilled to be making a mint off of. Along with corn, it is the item being used
most in our foods and passed off as if it were not always there to make food
cheaper. Their innovation affects beans
not even touched by them because the change lands up being adapted by
non-affected beans. They have used it as
an excuse to legally (and otherwise) go after organic farmers and push them
into settlements for crimes they did not commit just so they can intimidate
organic growers and any competitors while the federal government turns their
back. It is just one of many stories
that should serve as a red alert about how our food safety is declining.
The up side is that organic foods are becoming more
popular and more people know of these outrages, especially thanks to
documentaries like this and this will likely not be the last of them by a
longshot. This is one of the must-see
documentaries of the year and one you will not soon forget.
The 1.78 X 1 image is a little soft, but that is expected
form a documentary with such investigative journalism, though I was surprised Dolby
Digital 5.1 was included with the Dolby 2.0 Stereo as neither have any serious
surrounds. Still, it could not hurt ands
the combination is about as good as we could ever expect. Extras include Deleted Scenes, Resources
list, Celebrity Public Service Announcements, ABC News Nightline on the subject and two featurettes: The Amazing Food Detective and Snackdown
Smackdown.
- Nicholas Sheffo
