Few things are more likely to put you off your dinner than a comprehensive dissection of the modern food industry. But taking its lead from the likes of Eric Schlossers Fast Food Nation and Morgan Spurlocks Super Size Me, Robert Kenners Oscar nominated documentary is undoubtedly compulsive viewing.
Both of those films in fact provide something of a launch pad for Food Inc,. as Fast Food Nation author Schlosser features prominently in the opening scenes. As Kenner admits in the interesting interview included alongside some better than average deleted scenes in the bonus features, Schlossers book was a big influence on the film. Kenner actually does a far better job of adapting Schlossers words in the first half hour of this than Richard Linklater did in the entire botched 2006 Fast Food Nation film.
But its not just about fast food. Noting that the way we eat has changed more in the past 50 years than in the previous ten thousand, the documentary touches on a broad range of issues ranging from the dramatic decline in the status of the American meat worker (which has gone from being one of the best looked after professions in the US in the 1950s to one of the nations most dangerous jobs today) to the rise of genetically modified food. The film also attacks the central issue of why good, healthy food (such as broccoli) is so much more expensive than the bad, unhealthy stuff.
As with Super Size Me, an odd side effect of the film was to make me hungry. Just as Oliver Stones harrowing Vietnam movie Platoon reportedly had the unexpected consequence of boosting military recruitment in the 1980s, a few scenes of burgers and chips, regardless of the films content, soon had me reaching for a takeaway menu.
This feeling didnt last. Although the films not actually especially gruesome, the accounts of horrific E. Coli outbreaks alongside footage of chickens being kept in concentration camp style conditions soon made me reconsider.
Really we should be grateful films like this are even getting made. Exploiting the libel laws to the full, the food industry has practically made it illegal to criticise it in the US: even the mighty Oprah Winfrey was sued (unsuccessfully) after she did a show on mad cow disease in 1996. Although perhaps a bit too US-orientated in its focus, Food, Inc. is well worth a look and will undoubtedly provide valuable food for thought for anyone who sees it.
Overall Verdict: Refreshingly subtle, intelligent documentary, best not viewed while eating a takeaway.
Special Features:
Interview with Director Robert Kenner
Deleted Scenes
Reviewer: Chris Hallam