Movie Review Friday: Food, Inc.

Escape to the movies with one of our Movie Review Friday selections. Each week we review a film with an environmental theme that’s currently in theaters or available on DVD. Seen a good eco-flick lately? Send us a short review and look for it in the next Movie Review Friday.

Food, Inc. (2009)
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The latest documentary to highlight America’s transition from a country of plant- and animal-producing farms to food-producing factories, Food, Inc. stars several outspoken whistleblowers, including Eric Schlosser, who wrote Fast Food Nation, and Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma.

Interviews with these journalists, combined with disturbing footage of factory farms and slaughterhouses, proves that the food we have come to think of as cheap is actually quite costly. While watching, we learn that, in addition to contributing to food poisoning, obesity, and diabetes, our increasingly corn-based diet is fueling a staggering loss of genetic diversity and an unsustainable oil addiction. Petroleum runs every stage of the modern agricultural system, from driving tractors to transporting cows to fertilizing fields.

However, the filmmakers do try to show that the situation isn’t all gloom and doom; they profile major players in the mainstream move toward sustainable foods (including the CEO of Stonyfield Farm, an organic dairy producer that sells to Wal-Mart). The film ends optimistically, with a reminder that people can vote for a better, healthier future whenever they buy food.

--Natalie Gaber