What do you know about where your food comes from? What does it really mean to be sustainable in the agricultural industry? How can we feed the world? The 2016 documentary, Sustainable, answers all these questions and more from the perspective of small scale farmers. Told primarily through the voices of a seventh generation farmer in Illinois, Sustainable tells the story of how the people who call what is often termed 'flyover country' home are working tirelessly to change the food systems in America. Blending agriculture, environmental science, economics, marketing, and culture the film examines the movement from all sides while avoiding the fear mongering often present in exposes on the food industry and health crisis in the United States.
I appreciated the synergy between the academic research presented and the positive results that the independent farmers found in their crops. Furthermore, I believe that the film convincingly made an argument for how food grown in a sustainable fashion is capable of feeding the world, responding directly to the most common criticisms of price and output. By combining this with the more commonly known positive environmental effects, the documentary is able to bring the goals of both sides together. The documentarians have deployed humor as a weapon against the marketing of food trends to consumers with great impact, and a rather damning conclusion.
In my opinion, the one negative about the film is that I found it mildly disjointed, and I had some difficulty holding all of the different threads to the story. By trying to come at the issue with a holistic perspective and include as many examples as possible, the product has a cohesive message, but maybe not a cohesive narrative. Even with this downfall, overall I found the documentary to not only be a fascinating look at a grassroots food movement, but also a compelling argument for a larger cultural shift.
I appreciated the synergy between the academic research presented and the positive results that the independent farmers found in their crops. Furthermore, I believe that the film convincingly made an argument for how food grown in a sustainable fashion is capable of feeding the world, responding directly to the most common criticisms of price and output. By combining this with the more commonly known positive environmental effects, the documentary is able to bring the goals of both sides together. The documentarians have deployed humor as a weapon against the marketing of food trends to consumers with great impact, and a rather damning conclusion.
In my opinion, the one negative about the film is that I found it mildly disjointed, and I had some difficulty holding all of the different threads to the story. By trying to come at the issue with a holistic perspective and include as many examples as possible, the product has a cohesive message, but maybe not a cohesive narrative. Even with this downfall, overall I found the documentary to not only be a fascinating look at a grassroots food movement, but also a compelling argument for a larger cultural shift.