A Film to Catch

At RobertKennerFilms.com, several reviews are posted. This excerpt is from the Los Angeles Times:

The best thing about the documentary is that it does what good reporting does:  it connects the dots.  Ever since the McDonald brothers discovered you could make hamburgers in assembly-line fashion, farms have become factories as Corporate Agriculture geared its production toward total uniformity.  Americans end up spending less money on food than ever, but we pay a huge cost--starting with the fact that one out of every three kids born after 2000 will develop Type 2 diabetes because it's cheaper to buy a cheeseburger or a giant bottle of diet soda than a head of broccoli.  That's one key reason why income level is the biggest predictive indicator when it comes to obesity.

Did You Know…

This film will be essential viewing, especially if you start thinking how little you know about the food you buy and eat.  Dr. Mercola provides some insight in an article he wrote concerning Food, Inc.

• The federal government subsidizes corn, wheat, soy, and rice, encouraging a sickening fast food and junk food diet for the nation.
• Most "farms" today are more like factories, causing pfiesteria (bacteria) to thrive in waterways and polluting half our rivers and streams with agricultural runoff from chemicals and crowded animals.
• Giant corporations like Monsanto are filling the food supply with toxic genetically modified ingredients for their own profit.  Monsanto in particular is also patenting seeds--life forms--for the first time in history, without consent from Congress or voters.  Monsanto is clearly focused on gaining ownership of the world's food supply, and is succeeding.
• Turning animals into food factories "on steroids" is pushing nature beyond its limits, creating mutated animals...and you are what you eat.

Synopsis

This synopsis is provided by ParticipantMedia.com:

"How much do we really know about the food we buy at our local supermarkets and serve to our families?

"In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that's been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA.

"Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers, and our own environment.  We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, insecticide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of e. coli, the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually.  We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.

"Featuring Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield Farm's Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms' Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising—and often shocking—truths about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation, and where we are going from here.

Coming to theaters Jun 12, 2009.

Credits

• Genre:  Documentary
• Distributor:  Magnolia Pictures
• Director:  Robert Kenner
• Cast:  Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser, Gary Hirshberg, Joel Salatin