The Future of Food (2004)

So much average

One of my all time favorites.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

This film is a glaringly one-sided propaganda piece. At no point during the film is anyone interviewed that would present a viewpoint that is contrary to the prevailing attitude of the film. The science is presented inaccurately and, of course, slanted toward the anti-technology, Luddite view that is obviously held by the film-makers. In addition to the manipulative, preachy quality of the film, it was also exceptionally boring and ugly to look at. It had the feel of a very amateur production. I find it very disturbing that so many people have reviewed this film favorably and claim that it is extremely important and a must-view, etc... Obviously there are many people out there who are willing to go along with such propaganda unquestioningly and do not even care to hear alternative viewpoints or rebuttals from the vilified parties. This, to me, is much more frightening than the "threat" to our food presented in this film.

There is probably nothing that we can do to change things as we have given up the oversight of our elected leaders by not voting or by voting on single issues at the direction of our preachers, but we should at least have some knowledge of what is being done to us by politicians and chemical companies in bed together.97% of the varieties of vegetables that were available at the turn of the 20th century are gone. The food we now have - corn, soybeans, etc. - had been genetically modified so that there is only one or two varieties. There is no testing or oversight due to the negligence of the FDA and the US Dept. of Agriculture and the fact that members of both these organizations, as well as other politicians, including at least one on the Supreme Court, have been or are members of the boards or in the employ of of the chemical companies. In fact Monstanto said it didn't matter who won the 2000 election, they were covered.The chemical companies have bought all the seed companies and now you buy from them or you do not plant. They have, with the help of the government and the courts, usurped private property to their benefit.As I say, there is nothing that can be done, save buying organic or at farmer's markets; but this film contains information you should know, especially since as a taxpayer you are contributing $20 billion dollars a year to the chemical companies.If the rest of the world does not accept our frankenfood, why should we?

"The Future of Food" is a documentary that deals with the history of the agricultural industry and the development of genetically engineered food. It delves deep into the topics of patenting these genetically engineered creations by huge corporations and how the FDA's and EPA's regulations aren't strict enough and how food that has been genetically engineered in the United States does not have to be labeled. This is all valuable information.Then the movie spends the rest of the time bashing a corporation "Monsanto" for destroying the lives of all these farmers and potentially they will bring the end of the world. Phrases like "if 60 genetically altered salmon are entered into the mainstream population, the salmon species COULD be extinct within 40 generations," are all fine and good, but there's no flip side of the coin. There's no one from Monsanto backing claims. There's no one saying, "Genetically engineered salmon could increase population growth." It seems that many documentaries recently have become witch hunts against multinational corporations, which I think are great if both sides are presented. Maybe Monsanto didn't want to talk to the filmmaker, but if that was the case, let the viewer know that at least they tried to show both sides of the story. Show the filmmaker calling or have a graphic saying "They declined comment." "The future of Food" is a great idea, with a lot of great information, but it ultimately fails because it only shows 50% of the story, hence my 5 out of 10 rating.

THE FUTURE OF FOOD (TFOF) skillfully takes on the task of describing the constellation of large, hard issues relating to modern food production. What a task! In its analysis TFOF correctly and importantly ties together the relationships among the 3 factors of production - land, labor, and capital - in getting at an accurate description of the modern enclosure movement at work in our fast food world.TFOF's coverage extends to the many spatial and historical dimensions of farming, to the legal, intellectual property of "pharming," to some of the technical aspects of the genetic modification, and shows where we are headed.... But that's up to you! TFOF compares to THE CORPORATION in its potential impact. It could be even bigger. My local store was selling it at the checkout counter yesterday - 12/6/2005!