Fresh, the movie
The movie Fresh, featuring Michael Pollen, picks up where Food, Inc. left off. Like Food, Inc., Fresh focuses on agricultural practices that are currently unsustainable and unhealthy. There is also a focus on three different farmers who are doing things differently. There is the story of one farmer who raised hogs in a large confined space and had to constantly inject the hogs with anti-biotics to keep them from getting sick. One day one of the hogs jabbed him in the leg with it's tusk. Two weeks later his leg was swollen and at the hospital he was told he had an infection. The doctors treated him with several different types on anti-biotics but he was immune to all of them. Finally, they tried a new experimental drug that helped save his life. From that day on, he was a changed farmer. He now raises free range hogs and has discovered that he not only saves money in the process, but that he feels better about what he is doing, and people want to buy his product. One of the things that struck me was how much personality the free range hogs seemed to display compared to the hogs that were cramped, crowded, and sick.
There is a focus on farmer Joel Salatin too, who moves his chickens and cows to fresh grassy areas every day. In the morning he opens up the hen houses and says, "Good morning ladies!" Finally, there is some great footage of an Urban farmer with a big heart and lots of motivation. He has a knack for inspiring others and drawing people in. Many people from his surrounding community were gathered on the farm. Several of the farms in this movie also showed people gathered around community style tables enjoying the fresh food together. I am so pleased that more and more movies are being created right now to shed light on more sustainable practices.
Two other movies of interest that I am looking forward to watching are Forks over Knives and the Burzynski Movie. The first one is about the benefits of a plant based diet. It takes a look at heart disease and diabetes and makes a case for less meat consumption. The second one is about Dr. Burzynski's amazing work with Antineoplastons to cure cancer and how the information has been kept from the general public. There are trailors on the sites below.
http://www.burzynskimovie.com/
