Sam's Blog - Fed Up

With a few nutritionally zesty films under her belt (GMO OMG and Tapped), Stephanie Soechtig now brings us Fed Up, a documentary about the dangers of sugar. Focusing on childhood obesity, the film attacks the stigma that obesity is the individual's fault, and reiterates the truth about food companies through product labels, advertising, and pricing. Much of the content of the film is already public knowledge, though there were a few facts and statistics that were surprising; however, the compilation of these facts gives an organized view on the situation. Unfortunately, the spread of information was not quite balanced: many topics went either left untouched or were only briefly noted.

For example, the film attacks sugar and fat, but skips over the conversation that there are different types of fat, some better for you than others, and even that the body does need dietary fat in order to work properly. The film also treats obesity and body fat like it's the only thing that prevents a person from being healthy. However, a 92 minute film cannot hold all the necessary information on nutrition, so it is fair to say that within that time frame, they covered what they could.

As for the effectiveness of the film, one can only wait and see. I am a little wary of whether it will have any effect. If there's one thing society has learned, it is that negativity is a paralytic, and positivity is a motivator. If we had less "don'ts" and more "dos", perhaps we would see more of a change. Ultimately, the majority of the film is a display of negativity -- this is what you should NOT eat -- with a very, VERY brief positive note at the end, one that was a bit convoluted at that. We see snippets of real, healthy food, shots of farmer's markets and fresh produce and... then the film is over.

Overall, the film is well-constructed, and you do learn a thing or two. It also leads to great conversation about what we're putting into our bodies... one can only hope that it actually inspires people to start cooking their own food. Now playing at the Midtown Cinema! Come see the film and tell us what you think.