(Review originally written at 7 November 2005)
Granted that this movie is better as entertainment than as a thought provoking insightful documentary but that doesn't mean it's an unpleasant watch of course.
At first I thought that the entire concept of the documentary maker eating at McDonalds 3 times per day for 30 days straight to proof that fast food is bad for your health, was quite ridicules. Everybody already know that it wasn't the most healthiest thing in the world to eat. What was he ever trying to proof? That's why I never was too keen on watching this documentary but still I decided after a year to give it a chance anyway. Glad I did. I can now understand the documentary maker's point and overall I was entertained by the documentary.
This documentary perfectly shows that fast food and health problems are very directly related and can work addictive as well. In a way cigarettes are just like fast food.
Of course there is nothing wrong with eating some fast food about once or twice รก week. As long as you get enough movement or do some sports you'll be just fine, just like those 2 black kids said in the documentary. I actually know a person who eats at McDonalds about 2 or 3 times per week. He practices a few sports and he is in perfect health and shape. So the real problem is not really the fast food itself, it's the mainly the people's own fault for getting fat and unhealthy.
Still the fast food companies also do little to prevent this. They put an amazing number of calories in their products and advertise aggressively, especially towards young children. That's why Morgan Spurlock picked mainly McDonalds for his documentary. It might seem unfair of him to only mainly focus on McDonalds but he does this because this is the company that has by far the biggest market out of all fast food companies in the world but more importantly it's also the fast food company that advertises the most aggressively on both on TV and on the streets. They try to appeal to young children and with toys and playgrounds they try to give the children a fun, warm, happy feeling whenever they are at McDonalds, so that they will always associate McDonalds with fun, warm, happy feelings.
That fact that Morgan Spurlock ate at McDonalds 3 times per day for an entire month might seem a bit extreme. No person in the world does this, at least not 3 times per day. But that wasn't Morgan Spurlock's point. He wanted to show in a very direct way what junk food can do to your health, body and mind.
The documentary does provide some good points and some insightful information but it isn't really anything groundbreaking or thought provoking all. I just see this documentary as educational-entertainment, with the emphasis on entertainment.
For Europeans and people from other continents, this documentary doesn't really apply. Halve of the McDonalds products shown in this documentary aren't even sold here and we also don't have this crazy super size menu's and overall, fast food related health problems and fatness aren't really a big problem here. But that doesn't mean that they don't can have any fun in watching this documentary.
7/10
Watch trailer
No comments: