Documentary Takes on Big Food

The timing couldn't be better for a documentary film like Food, Inc., which Variety describes as "a civilized horror movie for the socially conscious."

As the Obama administration ponders how far to go in taking on Big Food on any number of fronts—crop subsidies, genetically modified foods, safety and environmental regulation, marketing junk food to children, regulation of organics, antibiotic-laden meat—a film like this is just the thing to get the public involved in the discussion.

According to Food, Inc.'s marketing materials, the film examines the "highly mechanized underbelly that's been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA." The food supply "is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment."

Food, Inc. has gotten rave reviews from the likes of the Los Angeles Times, Entertainment Weekly, and Variety. Nutritionist Marion Nestle also raved about it on her blog.

A copy of the film is on its way to me. Once I've seen it, I'll be talking with the filmmaker, Robert Kenner, who has directed several episodes of the PBS series The American Experience and produced one installment of the excellent and highly acclaimed 2003 series The Blues.

I talked with him briefly on Wednesday. He said the film is making the rounds at festivals and screenings and will be released in June in New York, Los Angeles, and possibly San Francisco. Soon after, it will be released in 15 or 20 cities.

Like the books of Michael Pollan, who is featured in the film, Food, Inc. is "about the high cost of low-cost food," Kenner said.

The industrialized food system is "really not any different from the financial system," he added. "They think they can police themselves."

It came as a relief to me when Kenner said he avoided using Michael Moore-style tactics. "I didn't start out with a point of view that I was going to prove," he said.
But he said he had all kinds of trouble getting access to food companies, including Tyson Foods, Monsanto, and Smithfield Foods. He also hinted at the "self-censorship" he felt compelled to employ because of his fear of "legal issues" that might have arisen. I'll try to get more on that when I talk to him again.