You Are What You Eat

Children are growing up in the era of the supermarket, where they believe that milk comes from a jug and lettuce originates in the produce section of Wal-Mart. Americans just don't know where their food comes from. In Food Inc., director Robert Kenner takes a critical look at how corporate America has changed the farm.

With the help of of "food experts" Eric Scholosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (The Omnivores Dillemma) Kenner creates a documentary that is clear, concise, and important. The film is split into chapters, each highlighting the corporate corruption of agriculture. As Kenner tells it, the industry's transformation began the late 40's when farms began catering to fast food by operating like factories instead of the historical American farm.

As Kenner's film progresses, each vingette shows a different side of America's food. First, it's a trip to poultry facilities where farmers raise chickens in complete darkness and pump them so full of chemicals that their bones and organs can't keep up with their body's growth (Kenner can't even show the worst facilities, because corporate America won't allow it). Then the story of Barbara Kowalcyk, a mother-turned-activist whose son died of E. coli, proves how ridiculously slow the American political process can be. Lastly, Kenner shows how "veggie libel" laws are destroying the typical farmers because large corporations like Monsanto are suing them with lawsuits that only Oprah can afford to defeat.

Those stories only scratch the surface of the the film's heartwrenching facts, and it's quite ironic that the only corporation that Kenner praises is "media devil" Wal-Mart. However, very little in Food Inc. will be new for anyone who has read Scholosser or Pollan's books. Nonetheless, the documentary, like any good documentary, will leave you questioning business, government, and (most importantly) your own behavior.

Grade: A-