Forks Over Knives (2011)

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

While it's true that there has been a rise in many degenerative diseases in the past 60 years, the simplistic message given by this film is wrong. Eating animal fats does not cause, for example, heart disease. Look at the Inuit, whose diet is traditionally 90% seal fat. Or the Masai, whose diet is traditionally 90% meat, milk and blood. This film does raise awareness of the need to change the Western diet, but animal fat and protein are not the culprits. A high fat, lo-carb diet works well. As does a lo-fat, high carb diet. But you can't have both hi-fat and hi-carb. Corn syrup and sugar in everything, additives and preservatives are the dangers. Not fats and a little protein.

Forks Over Knives is a documentary film that advocates for a low- fat, whole-food, plant-based diet, arguing that eating plant-based foods and avoiding animal-based foods, can prevent or reverse serious health problems. There are many benefits to choosing this diet over a "western diet", a diet high in fat, sugar, processed foods, and meat. The healthy plant-based diet is high in vitamins and minerals and it won't raise your bad cholesterol. Unlike the fatty "western diet", this diet prevents the buildup of fat in arteries, which can cause cardiovascular disease. Despite it advocating healthier eating, Forks Over Knives is not without fault. The film argues against the consumption of animal-based foods, specifically targeting meat and dairy, even going as far as to suggest that animal-based foods have little to no nutritional benefit and should never be eaten. While eating too much meat is unhealthy, lean meat and fish in moderation can be part of a healthy diet. The film also states that drinking too much milk is bad, but like meat, it can be part of a healthy diet when consumed in moderation.Still, the film has other redeeming moments, such as its valid points about the effect the consumption of animal products has on the world. For example, it states that world hunger would end if all the grain fed to animals was redistributed to people who need it. In my opinion, this argument is better because it is about humanity as a whole, which is more important than one person's diet. Arguments like these are much more likely to convert me to veganism than questionable claims about the supposed lack of nutritional value in all animal products.Overall, Forks Over Knives, has something great to say, but it is seriously hampered by its strong, biased anti-meat and anti- dairy stance. This position is repeatedly enforced throughout the film, which could encourage some viewers to become vegan or even look down on those who eat animal-based products. Although there are great things about low-fat, whole-food, plant-based diets, this movie is not the best way to learn about them.

So you have lazy fat processed food eating burger loving types who never get off their asses to exercise who end up fat and sick , on the other end of the scale are this lot , who stroke the Chakras while drinking lentil soup made with " organic water " that cleanses their stressed body's of big pharma toxins etc etc , it really is simple in one sense , a well BALANCED diet with the correct amount of foods from all sources and some exercise , extremes on either side are unnecessary and also no fun . The statistics used are in some cases laughable and lots have been debunked as mentioned above , eg the china study .ill be honest i only watched the first 40 mins of this and had to turn it off, i would recommend HBO's The Weigh Of The Nation for a balanced look at diet and why the health of the developed world is the way it is .

Even if I was a vegetarian, I'd be dismayed by this film, which is a textbook example of propaganda -- think Leni Reifenstahl and "The Triumph of the Will" in Hitler's Germany. Such films have an agenda, and use cinematic techniques to promote that agenda, without balance or integrity or truthfulness. Truth plays a backseat to promoting the political agenda.Here the agenda is .... veganism. And not just general "it's good for you!" veganism nor even the "save the cute widdle animals" veganism -- this is a direct polemic stating that veganism -- and ONLY veganism -- will save your life, enable you to cure a whole range of diseases and live for a very long time, the whole while as a fit, buff triathelete or firefighter.The theories of Dr. Caldwell and Dr. Esselstyn are the most extreme of all eating regimes -- not even vegetarianism is remotely good enough here. This is the Pritikin or Ornish diets, on steroids. ZERO fats, zero meat, zero dairy products -- yup, folks, YOGURT will kill you. Milk, of course, will kill you -- even organic skim milk.What does this leave you to eat? Only vegetables, and more vegetables. Furthermore, they must be steamed or baked, as you cannot of course fry or stir fry, sauté or fricassee because remember -- ZERO fats. Yes, folks -- OLIVE OIL, now it's bad for you. Even Canola oil. No oils or fats whatsoever, in any form. SO this is a diet of steamed vegetables and only steamed vegetables, and nothing else.Needless to say, this very harsh diet is not too appealing to any normal person, nor is it a diet normally eaten by any human society on earth. It lacks a number of nutrients and vitamins, which must be taken by pill form (B-12 etc.). But of course, unpalatable as it is, it leads directly to weight loss -- and the weight loss to remission from obesity, Type II diabetes, coronary artery disease and cholesterol problems.I can almost accept that, though of course 99% of people cannot stick to a diet this horrible. You might as well say you can cure these things if you fast all the time, and live on water, but it does not translate that most folks can do that.But it goes off the rails when the filmmakers state you can CURE METASTATIC BREAST CANCER (and infer, all cancers) by eating vegan foods. Not prevent breast cancer -- not cure a primary tumor -- but cure breast cancer which had spread to the subjects spine, liver and bones. This is untrue, and a hateful, ugly promise to make to suffering cancer victims, which cannot possibly be true. Nor does the movie offer any PROOF, besides one elderly lady's anecdotal story (we do not even know for sure she ever had cancer, for starters) that this is so. Certainly any "proof" would involve thousands of patients with metastatic cancer over many years, and with double blind studies.It is shocking and horrifying that two physicians who call themselves "scientists" would promise such a thing. It proved to me, what I had been thinking silently through the rest of the film -- this is not science, this is RELIGION...the religion of veganism, which incorporates a hatred for all things pleasurable in the world (but especially food), a belief in eternal life (promised to you by eating vegan!) and the necessity to preach at and convert others. As such, it is frightening beyond any other type of diet hucksterism.NO matter what you eat, I assure you -- you are going to die sometime, and you will die of SOMETHING. No diet in the world can save you from metastatic cancer, and I am appalled beyond words at DOCTORS pushing a protocol on patients which involves REFUSING chemo and radiation (proven to help) and instead an unproven diet plan. (Note that cancer victims typically lose a lot of weight and have trouble eating; I can't imagine a worse thing that forcing them to eat tasteless vegan dishes and lose weight on purpose!)On top of this, the film is dry and full of statistics, along with simple-minded attacks on old filmstrips that show "the 7 basic food groups" or whatever, from like 1946. Also I noted that when the filmmaker himself is shown going on his diet, as well as other participants, they are very openly showing bags and boxes from the Whole Foods chain of stores (was it a paid advertisement?).In short, not recommended. This is religion, not science. It is a sad comment on society that we cannot discuss and debate issues about food and diet, without it becoming an attack on other people who eat differently than we do, or on other people's body types or habits.