That Should Not Be: Our Children Will Accuse Us – Nos enfants nous accuseront (2008)

Directed by: Jean-Paul Jaud | 112 minutes | documentary

To be clear: you will not see this film if you are not somewhat interested in organic food, your health and/or the environment. There is nothing more pleasant than being confirmed in your own convictions. You can wait a long time for that with ‘That Should Not Be: Our Children Will Accuse You’ because that is not going to happen.

‘That Should Not Be’ follows the story of a small French village Barjac from the moment the mayor decides to promote organic food. The children at school grow their own vegetables and eat nothing more than organic for lunch. The parents of the children are also encouraged to continue this at home, the farmers to farm organically and the shopkeepers are encouraged to only offer organic products. After a year this project seems to be successful, but it is not completely certain. In between this nice rippling story, a huge load of frightening facts and frightening figures is poured over you. For example, that in Europe 70% of cancer cases are determined by the environment: 30% by pollution and 40% by food. People cause diseases. Did you know that 27 types of chemicals are used in intensive apple cultivation? There are pesticides in everything, even in water and bread. 30% of all life on earth is gone forever, etc. etc. And if the numbers don’t drive you crazy, the very similar personal stories of farmers and/or parents will. Because spraying the crops has led to an increase in neurological disorders and cancer among children. Shocking to hear the first few times, but – no matter how bad – after that the effect is gone. Perhaps director Jean-Paul Jaud should have followed his own advice: quality over quantity. After all, that is the golden rule of healthy and organic food.

Has ‘That Should Not Be’ become a movie stuffed with facts and figures? Yes, unfortunately it is, and it also takes almost two hours. So prepare yourself. And are you into numbers? Then there is a good chance that you will be annoyed by all the personal stories that have been superimposed too much. “Oh how good I am that I eat organic and it is so nice” or “Oh how stupid I was doing this as a farmer when I used 22 kinds of chemicals for my peaches”. The latter is simply true and organic food is often tastier and can hardly help but be healthier, but ‘That Should Not Be’ would have been so much more interesting if the counterparty’s position had been looked at more closely. It only becomes fun towards the end when a regional farmers’ meeting is held to discuss whether or not to switch to organic farming. What are the benefits of that and why should you do it? The conservative farmer keeps his feet up here and that makes it fascinating. That’s the reality. Not when the mayor comes into the picture for the tenth time and expresses his love for organic food.

That it is almost 100% certain that it is better to eat organic, that is something else. Jean-Paul Jaud, an avid nature documentary enthusiast and maker since 1992, has let love take over and the delivery of a good documentary has somewhat lost sight of. Because of the one-sidedness, the conviction is completely missing and the balance is lost. A weak film remains. The continuous repetition of the message also gets boring. Making ‘That Should Not Be’ is nothing but well-intentioned, just like convincing people to eat organic, but that shouldn’t take longer than the time it takes to finish a supper. Otherwise your belly will become overfull.