Coming from a lifelong and avid picky eater, it’s a big deal when I say that this documentary changed my life.
There is a fine line that these documentaries have to tread between a heavy handed presentation and an ineffective laisseze faire presentation. I felt like the director was very successful in his storytelling approach. Whenever I watch documentaries like this one that are trying to convince me to change the way I act, I take things with a grain of salt because I am a little paranoid that the filmmakers are trying to manipulate my opinion. This film on the other hand, seemed to respect my ability to deduct the evidences that they’re presenting to me.
Though respectful, The documentary didn’t leave me completely autonomous and was definitely trying to prove a point, but it didn’t do so with rhetoric, but with storytelling. The convincing evidence came from the stories of the doctors, the participants, and even the documentarian. We were able to see how they sincerely believe in the validity of a diet with less animal product because of the evidences they come across by study and experimentation in their lives.
What was interesting about the main point of view in this documentary, which was of the director, is that he didn't really share much of his opinion during the film. In fact, he kept himself very much a side story and only seemed to pipe in when he was showing the audience the results of his self-experiment. All I had to work with were the facts that he was giving me, and when somebody tells you “I’ve lost weight and have more energy,” It’s hard to argue back.
There were only a very small handful of times when I felt like I couldn’t trust what the documentary was saying, and that was when I saw people who looked like they would be stereotypically categorized as people who would choose a Vegan diet because of the social circles that they existed in. For example, there were a couple of doctors at the beginning of the film that looked like they'd be pretty hipster and liberal, and I had decided as soon as I saw them that I wouldn’t trust anything they had to say. As the movie went on I was surprised to see that they didn’t spend any time in a talking head interview, so I never really had a clear opportunity to disagree with them.
The documentary always related itself back to my culture, my diet, and my country, but never me explicitly. They likened the subject close enough to my life to get my attention, but not close enough for the film to feel like it was didactic or preachy. In the end I did not want to resist the documentary because it didn't feel accusatory. It felt humble and patient, and the topic applied to me so greatly that I really felt a drive for change.
This documentary made use of the ever popular tool of charts and graphs to go along with their statistics. These are arguably overused in modern documentary, but I think it’s probably because they’re really effective at planting ideas into our heads without any skepticism on our part. Each graph or 3D example was laying down sciences that were backing up the arguments in the documentary, and I readily believed everything they had to say.
Probably the most convincing evidence of this film is the stories of the two old physicians. Their ranking and their findings were very convincing, but the most compelling part about them was their sincerity and what they believed about their findings. I think the documentary would have fallen extremely short of its potential if we didn’t get to know them on a personal basis. I learned to trust them because of their history and character.
I really enjoyed this documentary over-all and would defiantly force the entire country to watch it if I were Emperor of the FDA.
I liked what you said about not trusting people because they looked "hipster" and "liberal". For some reason, I have a hard time seeing doctors as being hipster unless they're sporting a mustache, flannel, and an ironic T-shirt underneath. So it's interesting how you were wary to trust their opinions whereas I saw someone with a doctorate and felt that they were probably right about anything they said.
ReplyDeleteGoing along with that, though, I found it fascinating that the kick boxer(is that what he did?) was vegan! Here I thought that most beefy men partook generously in the consumption of whole cows and the likes of that. But his testimonial of how he has more energy and can fight better on the vegan diet was one of many zingers in this film that made me see it in a whole new light.
I also agree with you on the most convincing evidence. It's hard not to believe two old physicians when they've been doing what they're doing for so long and with such meticulous precision. Their entire part in the documentary was what kept me attentive and ultimately had me convinced to at least attempt such an extreme way of living. But I don't think I could give up cheese that easily. Drat.
I agree that this was a rare film that actually made me want to change something. I think one of the most powerful moments of the film was when one of the scientists addressed the impression that many Americans have of a vegan diet as being extreme. He then combats that idea with the fact that so many people with a western diet end up on an operating table having open heart surgery, which is actually a lot more extreme than changing our diet. It made me consider the idea that a change in my diet might not be as hard as it sometimes seems. I usually base what I eat on budget and what I can afford. However, when considering the future effects of what I eat, an extra investment might not be that "extreme." This film really presented this issue in a way that felt genuinely concerned about people and not about an issue.
ReplyDeleteI feel like you hit the nail on the head when you talked about the humility and patience of this documentary. That was exactly how the film made me feel as I was watching it. I also really liked Laura's comment about the film being genuinely concerned about people and not about an issue. Normally, I have an aversion to films like these because I feel like they are made by people who are trying to push an agenda on me (how I felt, for example, while watching The Business of Being Born), but there really was no arguing with the things that they were presenting in this film. They gave a fair amount of time to the opposing view point. Not a lot, but a fair amount. They showed a variety of people from a variety of lifestyle and health backgrounds, and the issue that they faced their audience with is a true, honest issue in our society. The fact that people die from heart disease above anything else is not a conspirist theory, it's fact. And the solution that they propose to this problem not only comes across as sincere, but it just makes sense.
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