King Corn
 | Green PackagingDirected by Aaron Woolf Starring: Michael Pollan, Ian Cheney, Curt Ellis, Stephen Macko, Chuck Pyatt DOCURAMA, 2007, DVD Customer Rating: 25 reviews Recommend |
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KING CORN is a fun and crusading journey into the digestive tract of our fast food nation where one ultra-industrial, pesticide-laden, heavily-subsidized commodity dominates the food pyramid from top to bottom corn. Fueled by curiosity and a dash of naivete, college buddies Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis return to their ancestral home of Greene, Iowa to figure out how a modest kernel conquered America.
With the help of some real farmers, oodles of fertilizer and government aide, and some genetically modified seeds, the friends manage to grow one acre of corn. Along the way, they unlock the hilarious absurdities and scary but hidden truths about America s modern food system in this engrossing and eye-opening documentary.
A graceful and frequently humorous film that captures the idiosyncrasies of its characters and never hectors (Salon), KING CORN shows how and why whenever you eat a hamburger or drink a soda, you re really consuming ... corn.
Picking up where Super Size Me left off, King Corn examines America's health woes through the multifaceted lens of one humble grain. Director Aaron Woolf and co-writers Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis offer irrefutable proof that the US is virtually drowning in the stuff. Corn meal, corn starch, hydrologized corn protein, and high fructose corn syrup fuel a multitude of products, from soft drinks to hamburgers. The starchy vegetable grows with ease and government subsidies insure over-abundant production. Woolf documents the 11-month effort of college friends Cheney and Ellis, who trace their ancestry to the same small Iowa town, to raise their own crop. After finding a farmer willing to lend them an acre, they meet with agronomists, historians, and other experts before plowing, seeding, and spraying. Prior to harvesting, the easygoing Yale grads travel to Colorado to compare the grass-fed cattle of yore with today's corn-fed counterparts; then to New York to explore the links between corn syrup, obesity, and diabetes. With assistance from author Michael Pollan (The Herbivore's Dilemma), a whimsical score, and stop-motion animation — farm toys and corn kernels — Woolf and associates bring biochemistry to vivid life. On a micro level, this genial eye-opener celebrates friends and farmers; on a macro level, King Corn bemoans the subsidies and genetic modifications that have turned a formerly protein-filled product into the fatty "yellow dent no. 2." Bonus features include a music video, photo gallery, and "The Lost Basement Lectures," an amusingly fake instructional movie about the aims of agriculture. — Kathleen C. Fennessy
Title: King Corn (Green Packaging)
Sales Rank: 7019 in DVD
Actor: Michael Pollan, Ian Cheney, Curt Ellis, Stephen Macko, Chuck Pyatt
Director: Aaron Woolf
Studio: DOCURAMA, 2008-04-29, Theatrical Release: 2007
Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Acpect Ratio 1.33:1
Languages: English (Original Language)
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region Code: 1
Running Time: 90 minutes
Item Dimensions: 1 pounds
Package Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.1 x 0.4 inches, 0.2 pounds
- Great objective corn expose
- This movie feels like I'm hearing a story told by an old college buddy. It's pretty objective, just relating their experience without preaching, facts are presented as facts and not interpreted, they leave that to the audience. Great way to introduce beginners to the prevalence of CORN in our modern (American) society. More reviews
- This Could Change Your Life For the Better Quickly
- This movie should be required for every person in America. Do we have an obesity epidemic? Just look around you next time you are in a fast food restaurant, Walmart, or other bastion of food eaters. There is a reason why we get fat and it is called high frictous corn syrup. Try and find something in a grocery store without it; good luck. This movie… More reviews
- The Healthy Habits Coach
- I recently showed this film to my local dietitian group, and not only did it get two thumbs up, but we agreed that this is a film everyone should see. This is like the cliff note version for Michael Pollan's excellent book Omnivores Dilemma. Start with the film and if you want to know more, read the book.
King… More reviews
- Educational and Enternaining
- This was an excellent film on consumption and uses for corn and how it is contributing to the obesity epidemic. The film was factual and also very entertaining and kept it's audience's attention for the whole film. … More reviews
- would you like corn syrup with that?
- A documentary about Corn. The turning point of the story begins when Republican Earl Butz ushers in the "Get big or get out" era. The idea was to reduce subsidies by dramatically increasing subsidies. (technically there would be fewer farmers receiving subsidies when there are fewer remaining farmers).
The older townsfolk interviewed don't come off as cynical.… More reviews
