Food Inc. (4/5 Stars) July 23, 2009

I could ask you to go see the movie, but I would rather have you read the books it is based on and those would be Eric Schlosser's 'Fast Food Nation' and Michael Pollan's 'Omnivore's Dilemma.' On a subject as complex as the industrialization of our food chain it is imperative that the average person becomes as knowledgeable as possible. After all this is about your food, you know that stuff that you cannot live without. 
However if you have cannot spare the time then this movie is a good place to start. At least it may inspire you to read the books. Food Inc. is a series of vignettes that basically summarize the different chapters of the several books it is based on. That technique makes the documentary more digestible in a short time but it also allows holes in its reasoning in the long run. Because of the complex nature of the subject and the strong and controversial agenda the film is promoting this becomes a liability to certain parts of the documentary. 
Wow I am being very very vague. Let me recite a list of what I have learned having watched this movie. 
Did you know:
That the government subsidizes corn to the point where it is basically scientifically constructed to be used for most things you would find in the supermarket.
That fast food beef is grown in overcrowded filthy manure laden fields. 
That cow are fed cheap corn instead of grass and this change in diet leads to such diseases such as E. Coli.
That there are only seven slaughterhouses in the USA, the biggest of which promotes in Mexico for illegal immigrants that have been forced out of business by the subsidized corn that flooded Mexico post-NAFTA
That 75% of the meat in the USA is owned by four corporate conglomerations. 
When you bite into a hamburger you are not eating one cow, but probably thousands.

...and much much more. I can't remember it all but it should be enough to take you off fast food for awhile. All of it is informative and important but I also wish that it wasn't so one-sided. Unfortunately none of the large corporations were willing to give interviews so we never hear their side of the story. In fact, they don't even allow anyone to film in their factories, so all the video was taken guerilla style. Anyway their views (if they have any) are never heard which is too bad.
This is a good documentary, but it's not a great one. It summarizes too much. It draws too much on personal stories and not enough on statistics (a good documentary will have both). But I suggest you see it just so you can dip your feet into that pool of knowledge concerning where exactly your dinner comes from. Oh, and even if you don't see this documentary or read the books, just trust me on this one: Stop eating McDonald's. $1 meat is too good to be true.