Movie Review: King Corn

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a pre-screening of a movie that every Local Forager (and every tax-paying citizen) should see -- "King Corn". It was extended in both DC and Boston, and it’s finally opening in the Bay Area this Friday at both the Red Vic Movie House and Berkeley’s Shattuck Theaters! (SoCal foragers: It has been running for a week now at the Laemmle Music Hall in Beverly Hills. Other US locations: check the King Corn site.)

Director Aaron Woolf and co-producers and co-stars Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis will be at both theaters for Q&As on both Friday and Saturday nights. Get your advance tickets online for Shattuck Theaters here or at the Red Vic box office here for a guaranteed seat. I'm sure it will sell out as the movie has been getting a lot of press. For full reviews, see the New York Times, The Washington Post, and Scientific American. For blog coverage see The Ethicurean and Culinate. Culinate is featuring posts by Curt Ellis from now until the end of the year.

Briefly, I loved.

One would think that a movie about the farm subsidy program, anhydrous ammonia fertilizer, and crop yields would be boring, but these two guys take you on an Industrial Ag odyssey that is not only educational but completely entertaining.

The set up: Best friends Ian and Curt arrive in Iowa from Boston to farm their own single acre of the country's monster commodity crop and track it from seed to marketplace to mouth. They adopt conventional farming methods which lay bare the degree to which industrialization, government subsidies and food processing have produced a system completely out of whack. They lead the viewer to connect the dots between agricultural policy and obesity, diabetes and the general degradation of our food supply.

Among the most interesting/entertaining interviews: Michael Pollan (whose book, Omnivore's Dilemma,  inspired the creation of this blog), Earl Butz (enfeebled nonagenarian and former Secretary of Agriculture under President Nixon who fathered the corn subsidy program), a technician from an isotope lab (who informs them that a carbon analysis of their hair indicates their physiology is "corn-based"), and a sadly brainwashed representative from the Corn Refiners Association.

The movie is billed as a cross between "Sicko" and "Supersize Me" but "King Corn" is much more gentle (and, in the end, more clever) than either of those. This is the kind of movie that should be required viewing in schools...and Weight Watchers meetings. See it soon so these guys can rack up the box office sales and get extended theater runs. ~ Carla

Comments

[Mark]

Thanks for the helpful review of this great indie film. If you want to see all Curt's blog post, the following link filters our his column on it's own:

http://www.culinate.com/mix/dinner_guest?author=4350

Enjoy and thanks for all your support!

[Alex]

I can't wait to see this film. It's scheduled up here in NW Washington first week of December... A local organization focused on local food systems along with our local Food Co-op are sponsoring the showings.