Movies, movies, movies

Food, Inc. was just released and I have yet to see the movie. I have seen a couple of previews and noticed a couple of interesting tidbits as well as some concepts that reminded me of some other movies I've recently watched. I suppose I'll have to see the actual movie before commenting but I am certainly able to seize the moment to discuss some other movies that came to mind.

Super Size Me - I didn't care for this movie because I found it to be misleading and unscientific. It has been a while since I've watched it but as I recall, among the many problems with the movie was the fact that the man at the center of the movie didn't analyze the fact that he had been on some type of vitamin and was probably eating vegetarian food prepared by his partner for most of his meals and then suddenly switched to the unthinkable habit of eating until nausea or vomiting for almost every meal and suddenly not getting any exercise. Couldn't his problems have been from this rapid shift? And what empirical evidence is there to suggest that eating McDonald's even once a day would yield any of the effects that he incurred using his methods?

The Future of Food - I enjoyed this movie because of its discussion of biotechnology and related legal concepts, issues, and problems. It tackles matters and uses facts not really discussed anywhere else nowadays in popular media such as questions of whether governing officials are too closely tied to private industry to be trusted with protecting our health in a high-tech world.

Bitter Harvest - If for no other reason I have to admit that I enjoyed watching this simply because it stars Ron Howard (a.k.a. Richie Cunningham) in a very early 1980s movie. More than that though, the movie is based on an actual event that left millions of people in the country with traces of a fire-retardant chemical in their bodies permanently after the chemical found its way into the dairy supply. I would have to assume there are still millions of people to this day with the chemical present. The movie also addresses the problems that can occur when we empower regulatory agencies to decide what is in our best interests.

King Corn - A pretty good documentary which brought to light some interesting (and highly relevant) facts about corn production in the U.S. One of these first things I remember about this movie is that it did a good job of mentioning some of the potentially big problems that can result subsidizing an industry. (I'd mention General Motors but this blog is supposed to be related to health.)

Sicko - This is extremely relevant right now considering Obama's push for health care reform. I have much to say about this topic. I think it is best saved for what may be my next post. As for the movie - I found it full of anecdotes and fairly devoid of good empirical data.