Activist Cinema: By God, See "The Cove" and "Food, Inc."

Two of the summer's most horrifying films have the distinction of being documentaries about human threats on two of the most non-threatening things on this here world of ours -- dolphins and food. Bottom line, see them!

Louie Psihoyos's The Cove, which has the distinction of winning the audience award for best documentary at this year's Sundance and is winning the world over, takes on a small town in Japan, Taiji, that is the center of the world's domesticated dolphin supply. The thing is, you see, that these dolphins are not just bred in the town. They are pushed into the titular cove and those dolphins whom the workers do not deem perfect or fit enough to perform at Sea World or any number of places across the world are killed. These dolphins are then often served as food (sometimes as school lunches), despite the fact that dolphins have unsafe levels of mercury within their fat. The documentary was created by the organization that was established to expose "the cove" and its star member is Ric O'Barry, the dolphin trainer for the classic television show Flipper who has become an animal rights activist, denouncing his former work. Though the documentary is in many ways fascinating and the work of the activists is harrowing in exposing to the world, to Japan, and various other ignorant communities, the practice within the cove, the frenzy it has been causing at festivals worldwide has more to do with its cute victims than its narrative mastery. Still, it's a fascinating and urgent look at what brings the always-smiling Flippers to the Sea World near you. The Cove will open in limited release at the end of this month.

Food, Inc., on the other hand, is just as impressive within the doc world. The doc just became the highest grossing limited release doc of 2009, surpassing Valentino, but behind the behemoth of Disney's Earth. The doc is based primarily on the wildly popular duo of food industry exposés, Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation and Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma, and as a companion piece to the two books, it actually pulls its own wait. Director Robert Kenner has produced a film that actually has visually delicious moments but provides an outright, multi-pronged attack on the food industry.

There is the inspirational story of a food activist fighting for the passing of a law that closes down consistently contaminated food plants, who was pushed into action after she lost her two-and-a-half year old son to bacterial poisoning of a Jack-in-the-Box hamburger. But there is also the heavy handed profile of a family, which goes to painful lengths to decide whether foods are worth the health factor or if they must settle for a meal off the dollar menu. In this segment, the family's inner discussions come off as forced and designed for the documentary's specific argument. This segment could have done better with an investigation on just how one can make local-grown or organic food more affordable, even if on a governmental level. And just when you think that it's time to be vegetarian, you're reminded that 90% of the nation's soy beans carry a patented modified gene, which causes eternal economic strife for the farmers of the crop. There are countless other profiles in food, but perhaps the most enlightening is a business deal shown on camera between organic milk company Stonyfield Farms and Wal-Mart. I won't ruin the many gems that come from both sides of the many interviews shown of both sides, but suffice it to say that this story has perhaps the most insights on how the system can be corrected.

There's also a Purdue farmer who loses her contract for being too humane, a livestock farmer insistent on doing it the old way, various immigrant food workers who slowly get deported in a government and industry sponsored scheme, and loads of facts that create a movie theater full of informed consumers. Perhaps more could have been made of the government's implications in all this racket, but it provides a more complete look to an issue brought up on film most notably with Morgan Spurlock's sensational but fun Supersize Me. There is certainly a greater diversity of information dispensed, and more points on which to make changes. I should also add that I saw the film in a special-screening-PR-move sponsored by Chipotle, a fast food company formerly owned by McDonald's, that is committed to buying meat from carefully chosen farms. While imperfect, the company certainly beats its former owner's practices, which provided much of the basis for the film, as Schlosser's book is quick to point out. Start getting informed at the film's website.

--bryce