Change Your Image
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Reviews
The Future of Food (2004)
very watchable - but maybe I shouldn't have ordered that large popcorn
A very watchable documentary suitable for all ages. We took our 3 kids (as young as 6) and they all got something out of it, even tho the content was serious.
Shows effectively how we are losing diversity in the seed / gene pool; that agricultural ownership is being concentrated in fewer hands; and that large conglomerates (such as Monsanto) are aggressively pushing genetically modified seed and chemical herbicide, as well as driving the family farmer out of business.
Like you'd expect in something like this there's a sort of relentless one-sidedness, and some of the scientific explanations seem a bit superficial. But well worth the time & price of admission.
King Solomon's Mines (1950)
A good full-color record of now-vanishing African tribal culture & African wildlife
Best thing about this film is the full-color documentation of African culture and wildlife... both of which have been rapidly vanishing due to development & pervasive influence of western values. It feels authentic but it may be inaccurate or Hollywood-ized, I don't know. This was filmed in the twilight of the colonial era (c. 1950) before television (later satellite TV) and western pop culture invaded these areas.
The main characters and plot line are wooden & forgettable... the romantic subplot implausible.
BUT my 3 kids loved it as I fast-forwarded over those parts and just showed them the full-color animal scenes and African village scenes. Some great singing, chanting, and dancing. Some of the mountain and desert scenery was interesting. Something about the way the cannibal tribe sequence was done was really effective and creepy.