BuzzFlash Reviews
King Corn (Documentary DVD, Released May 2008)
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A deceptively intelligent new entry in the regular-Joe documentary genre, King Corn, follows two recent Yale graduates as they, return to the rural county in Iowa where (by coincidence) both of them have ancestral roots, The movie they made with director (and Ellis' cousin) Aaron Woolf is a chilling one. Corn is ubiquitous in the American diet even if you think you're not eating it, and the deranged overproduction of corn instituted in the Nixon era has directly contributed to epidemic levels of obesity and diabetes. Thankfully, this information arrives via a graceful and frequently humorous film that captures the idiosyncrasies of its characters and never hectors.
--Salon.com
Inspired by "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan (who shows up for incisive commentaries), "King Corn" traces the statistically likely path that an ear of Iowa corn might take, from the cow confinement operations of eastern Colorado to a bottle of soda pop in Brooklyn, where Type 2 diabetes is epidemic. Gorgeously filmed in digital video and Super-8, using clever stop-motion corn kernel animation and a lyrical score by the "anti-folk" band the WoWz, "King Corn" takes what could be a tiresome agri-civics lesson and delivers a lively, funny, sad and even poetic treatise on the reality behind America's cherished self-image as the breadbasket of the world.
In large part, "King Corn" succeeds because Cheney and Ellis are such engaging guides on an odyssey that takes them from the Midwest at its small-town best to the ulcerated stomach of a corn-fed cow (they're genetically designed to eat grass). When they track down Earl Butz, the Nixon-era architect of the current government subsidy system, they go gently, allowing him to remind viewers that Americans now spend 16 percent of their income on food, a figure his Depression-era family would have envied.
Still, "King Corn" dares to ask whether low prices come at too exorbitant a cost -- environmentally, socially and to our public health. We might be better fed as a nation, but we're less well nourished. As one expert opines of contemporary farm bills, "We subsidize the Happy Meals, we don't subsidize the healthy ones." All of these points, as well as several more subtle ones, are made in "King Corn" by way of a terrific story and superb production values. It should be required viewing before going into a supermarket, McDonald's or your very own refrigerator.
-- The Washington Post
Aaron Woolf's we-are-what-we-eat documentary KING CORN is a lively introduction to the corn industrial complex. Like Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma, it's about ho corn, raised on vast corporate farms, has become the starchy DNA of American diets, whether it's fattening up cattle or processed into the high-fructose corn syrup that greases everything from soft drinks to spaghetti sauce. Woolf follows two college chums as they go to Iowa to harvest one acre of yellow ears, which they then trace through the system. You'll be amazed to learn how much corn is in your system. A-
--Entertainment Weekly
Simultaneously nostalgic and sinister, "King Corn" mixes full-blown Americana with fast-food follies in the Iowa heartland. By the time this documentary is over, you'll wonder if there's any real difference between "corn-fed" and "diabetic."
Producer-director Aaron Woolf follows two college pals, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, who both have family roots in Iowa, as they plant an acre of corn and see where it takes them over the course of a year. It's not a pretty process.
They learn that much of the corn is inedible (until it's treated with chemicals), their crop is unprofitable (aside from government subsidies) and that farmers can no longer live off their land. The idea of feasting on your very own corn on the cob (or grinding it up for corn meal) now seems impractical and naive.
Since 1970, much of the country's corn has been turned into ethanol, cattle feed or high-fructose syrup for juices and sodas — a leading cause of obesity and diabetes. In a series of interviews, the lethal potential of corn syrup becomes shockingly clear. One family in particular has been devastated by diabetes and the amputations that can go with undiagnosed cases.
"Soda is liquid candy," says one nutritionist. "We're not growing quality," says a farmer. "We're growing crap."
-- The Seattle Times
About the Director and Stars (and Producers):
Director and Producer Aaron Woolf received a Master's in film at the University of Iowa, but got the bulk of his education in the field in Lima, Mexico City, and Los Angeles. In 2000, Aaron directed Greener Grass: Cuba, Baseball, and The United States, a WNET-ITVS co-production that won a Rockie Award and aired on PBS. In 2003, Aaron directed Dying to Leave: The Global Face of Human Trafficking and Smuggling, which won a Logie Award and aired on the PBS series Wide Angle. Aaron is the founder of Mosaic Films and an avid mountaineer.
Co-Producers Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis became best friends at Yale. In college, Ian and Curt tried in various ways to reconnect students to their food, releasing sheep on the central campus, working to bring local foods into the dining halls, and taking incoming freshmen on orientation trips to organic farms. After graduation, Ian and Curt took a cross-country trip, and learned how little they really knew about the centerpiece of the American diet, corn. With Curt's cousin Aaron on board as director, the team moved to Iowa and started farming and filming in 2004
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