On Food, Inc.

Those who have read the books Fast Food Nation or The Omnivore's Dilemma, or articles such as Monsanto's Harvest of Fear in Vanity Fair or Eat Shit and Die in Miami New Times, will find little to be startled over in Food, Inc. Yet those who haven't been paying attention...

By Lee Klein

June 24, 2009

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Those who have read the books Fast Food Nation or The Omnivore's Dilemma, or articles such as Monsanto's Harvest of Fear in Vanity Fair or Eat Shit and Die in Miami New Times, will find little to be startled over in Food, Inc. Yet those who haven't been paying attention to what's been going down in America's food chain over the past half century will likely be as stunned as a tasered baby chick. For the second group, this film is a must-see.

My main criticism of the movie is that it seems sort of Obamacized -- meaning a bit too polite for its own effectiveness. Scenes involving the mother of a perfectly healthy toddler who died twelve days after eating a tainted hamburger are the only ones that pack an emotional punch. Also powerful, in a political way, is a bit at the end that directly links Monsanto, Washington pols, and pro-agribiz legislation (Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, for instance, was a former attorney for Monsanto).

All in all, Food, Inc. is an engrossing documentary, and an extremely important one as well. I'm just sayin' that it would have been a whole lot better had Michael Moore made it.

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