food, inc. (2008)

Directed by: Robert Kenner | 94 minutes | documentary | Starring: Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser

If we are to believe the commercials, veal steaks once frolicked in the meadow and the lettuce on our plates was pulled out of the ground by gnarled farm hands. “Food, Inc.” shows that the practice is very different. Producing food is no longer a craft, but an industry. Chickens spend their lives in crowded barns and are reared until they collapse. Tomatoes ripen to their full glory not thanks to the sun, but thanks to ethylene gas. US government subsidy makes a cheeseburger cheaper than a head of broccoli. Cows are fed corn feed that they can’t digest well because the influential corn lobby in the US has arranged it so and small farmers are forced by large food producers to work more efficiently (read: more environmentally, human and animal-unfriendly). Some of the issues identified in ‘Food, Inc.’ are specific to America, others play worldwide.

The message of the documentary is that the modern food industry makes many hidden victims. Director Robert Kenner gives a face to the tragedy according to the tried and tested Michael Moore recipe by allowing ordinary Americans to have their say as well as experts. He interviews bankrupt farmers, an overweight family and a trade unionist who stands up for workers in the meat industry. The most impressive is a mother who once lost her son to food poisoning and has been fighting for better commodity laws ever since. When Kenner asks her if she’s changed her diet after the tragic death of her child, she says she’d rather not talk about it. Not because it’s too painful, but because she’s afraid of a lawsuit. The power of the American food industry reaches far. So far, that as a consumer you sometimes forget that you have power over your own shopping bag. In order to turn the tide, consumers must purchase more consciously, argues the filmmaker.

‘Food Inc.’ is expertly crafted and gives an interesting behind-the-scenes look at food production in the US. Talking heads are interspersed with animations, undercover footage and idyllic shots of how it can be done: an authentic American rancher telling his story in a field of peacefully scurrying pigs. A Downside of ‘Food, Inc.’ is that Kenner wants to inform, not shock, his viewers. A legitimate choice in itself, but this limits the impact of the documentary. The undercover images in particular disappoint, because there is actually nothing special to see. Kenner says that slaughterhouse staff work under appalling conditions, but provides no concrete evidence of this. Kenner talks about animal-unfriendly practices in slaughterhouses, but does not show them and leaves the slaughter itself out of the picture. On the other hand, perhaps the problems of the food industry are only manageable for the average consumer if you serve them easily digestible.