BuzzFlash Reviews
July 2005
Fed Up! Genetic Engineering, Industrial Agriculture and Sustainable Alternatives (DVD)
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"About
70 percent of the food we eat contains genetically engineered ingredients,
and the biotech industry is spending $50 million
a year to convince us that this technology is our only hope. Using hilarious
and disturbing archival footage and featuring interviews with farmers,
scientists, government officials, and activists, Fed Up! presents an
entertaining and compelling overview of our current food production system
from the Green Revolution to the Biotech Revolution and what we can do
about it. The DVD includes three archival films in their entirety. The
archival films are 'Chicken of Tomorrow,' 'Death to Weeds,' and 'Man
and His Culture.'"
That's how one progressive distributor describes this campy and informative introduction to the modern world of food production: pesticides, genetically modified, and patented. Your visit to a grocery store will never be the same after seeing this persuasive and well-researched documentary.
You can get a taste of "Fed Up" by viewing the trailer here.
As with "Life and Debt" documenting how the International Monetary Fund exploits developing nations, "Fed Up" provides an excellent introduction into an often obscure topic that doesn't receive widespread media coverage: the evolution of food production into one more privatized exploitative industry that may be increasingly dangerous to your health.
As with the IMF in "Life and Debt," the goal of the large agri-business companies is to either put the small farmer out of business or to make him or her indentured to the patented and genetically modified products of the corporations. Even seeds for crops are now patented, with farmers being held financially liable for crops that grow from seeds that are accidentally blown onto their land!
Fortunately, the somber state of predatory corporate agriculture in this documentary is tempered by droll vintage documentaries that have the field of films scene in schools across America during the '50s. Now, they seem just like naive propaganda.
If you are interested in a good introductory and fun documentary about the growing corporate branding, patenting and genetic modification of food (as well as the use of pesticides) -- and the implications for farming in the U.S. and throughout the world -- "Fed Up!" will, indeed, get you fed up.
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