- 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 farm
Product Description
Food, Inc. lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing how 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. Food, Inc. reveals surprising and often shocking truths about what we eat, how it’s produced and who we have become as a nation.
Q&A with Producer/Director Robert Kenne…
February 8th, 2010 at 9:25 am
I found it fairly hard to sit through this entire movie. Yes, food contamination, unhealthiness, and conglomeration is depressing. But, has it already been covered? Yes.
Most of the content in the movie has already been reported by Schlosser. If you have read Fast Food Nation, there is not much need to watch this movie. Talk on fast food restaurants? Check. The link between obesity and unhealthy food? Check. Slaughterhouses and migrant workers? Check.
A lot of the movie topics have been covered by other documentaries, such as King Corn and Super Size Me. The parts that haven’t appeared in other documentaries, such as the death of a young child who ate at Jack in the Box, make up a small minority of the film. There are countless scenes of farmers complaining about the meat packaging and farming system on their farms, which, while interesting, are drawn out to the point that they turn repetitive.
Overall, if you have read Fast Food Nation and loosely keep up with current events, there is not much need for you to watch this film that tells you so much of what you already know. Don’t be fooled by the flashy trailer (a.k.a. the movie’s opening sequence) into watching this rather unimpressive film.
Rating: 1 / 5
February 8th, 2010 at 10:28 am
From the preview, I thought this film was going to be a bit more encompassing, since “documentary” somewhat implies an objective and fairminded analysis. However, this was mostly a one-sided (from the liberal perspective) demonization of the timeworn target, the “large multinational corporation”. That’s not to say the “one side” doesn’t have a few good points, such as the excessive heavy-handedness of a few big companies in their attempt to legally bully the smaller, independent agricultural farmer or worker.
Where the movie got somewhat off track, however, was with the myopic viewpoint that all non-organic large-scale consolidation and mechanization of the agricultural/food industry is evil and contrary to the well-being of our planet and its citizens. In fact, the mass production techniques in effect today, as well as genetic food engineering, are primarily responsible for allowing smaller parcels of arable land to feed ever-increasing world populations — and the paramount reasons that the USA has become the world’s breadbasket in times of peace and catastrophe (do you see any other countries shipping huge amounts of foodstuffs to the recent Haitian disaster sites?).
To cast a pall of Maximum Evil onto the large food producers, the film made liberal use (no pun intended) of the mechanism of scrolling “>>>insert food corporation’s name here< << DECLINED TO BE INTERVIEWED FOR THIS FILM" past your view screen. Although a somewhat passe technique, if they truly wanted to include a voice from the "other side", the producers COULD have obtained the countervailing viewpoints from the established industry spokespersons -- such as the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the US Poultry & Egg Association, etc.
And of course, no left-slanting film would be complete without your hearing the mantra of “global warming” a time or two — despite that concept becoming more laughable with every passing day as newer, more accurate revelations leak out from the true scientific community (those not yet corrupted by “climate politics” and its money-driven propaganda machine). I guess the producers didn’t get the memo yet: they’re now supposed to call it “climate change” (the phrase “global warming” no longer even passes the giggle test).
All in all though, this film was (barely) worth the .99 cent weekend rental price — that is, if you haven’t explored this subject matter previously. Otherwise, the film is far too weak on content — no matter which side you’re on — to be a “buy”.
Rating: 2 / 5
February 8th, 2010 at 11:42 am
This film was extremely disappointing. I was hoping for a clear, riveting summary of the environmental and health problems created because of the food industry in this country. I wanted an exposition of the inhumane techniques used to raise animals, the government policies and subsidies that contribute to the system, and the alternatives. The filmmaker touched on these points, but I didn’t feel they were clearly made (read Michael Pollen’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma instead). Many of the people interviewed in the film are inarticulate and hence boring to listen to, and the pacing is very slow. If I wasn’t already a “true believer,” this film would not have convinced me of the problem.
Rating: 2 / 5
February 8th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
This is a great movie!!!!! We get to see chickens being killed as babies, and forced to grow fast, unnaturally, so that they have to fall down and suffer. We get to know how our food is unethically produced and how terrible everything is about it. I just want to run down to KFC and buy a bucket of fried chicken now!!! Gotta love it!!! Its great fun to watch chickens get what they deserve!!! LOL!!!!!! Plus, animals are inferior to people and so they deserve to be abused. See, cause the great chain of being says that God and Jesus made us like them, but then animals are just for us to use and to eat. So, who cares about them being tortured and locked up in unsanitary, environmentally destructive conditions?! I just want my meat and my eggs and to the animals I say SHUT UP!!! Time to go read the bible now. Bye.
Rating: 5 / 5
February 8th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
Couldn’t watch the whole movie because it was too boring. They just made the same point over and over and over…..
Rating: 3 / 5