Without further ado…here’s part two.
Forks Over Knives – This looks at the obesity epidemic with two food scientists and how their research proves that a plant-based diet is the key to a long healthy life. There were many “a-ha” moments, one of them being the link between calcium and osteoporosis. If dairy consumption is so high then why is osteoporosis still a problem?
The take-away message: Your health is yours. Make changes for a better, longer life.
Recommended
Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead – Justin actually put this in the queue so I figured I’d watch it. It’s the story of Joe and his downward spiral of medications to treat his various problems. He decides to take a drastic changes and do a juice fast for 30 days. While doing this, he tours the US talking to people ab out juicing and their lifestyle. He meets Phil, an obese truck driver and convinces him to try a juice fast.
Watching this made Justin and I want to start juicing or at least add more veggies to our diet (much like watching Forks Over Knives). In the end, you see the transformation of Joe and Phil and how they inspire everyone they meet to make changes.
Recommended
Following Sean – The first documentary about Sean was shot when he was 4 or 5 and living in San Fransisco. His parents were hippies and he was opinionated. The filmmaker wanted to follow up with Sean 25+ years later. (This doc was filmed a few years ago.) The filmmaker finds Sean and his family and finds them to be mostly normal even with their unusual upbringing .
It’s a great look at how people are at one point in their lives and how much changes. Even the filmmaker evaluates his life behind the camera. Adult Sean is smart, reserved, working for the man (his grandparents are socialists) and his dad’s ideals are no longer his – as much as a 4-year-old could have. I really enjoyed Following Sean.
Highly Recommended
Happy People: A Year in Taiga – Watch men live off the land. Sounds boring, but it’s really a fascinating look at how people live in the harshest climate possible and what they do to survive. We follow trappers who spend months away from their family with their only companion, their dogs. The dogs work for them and with that attitude, they are treated as dogs and not m embers of the family. At one point, the men come home for New Year’s and while they travel using a snowmobile, the dogs run along side them. For a hundred miles!
This is subtitled since it’s in Russian. If you’re into lifestyle documentaries, check this one out.
Farmageddon – When you do finally take your health into your own hands, you might visit the farmer’s market for fresh veggies, fruit and other natural ingredients. But the government can come in and shut down these options. Obviously, the y see these small farms as threats. Federal agents even take dairy stock from a Mennonite farmer. But they don’t just take stock, they kill them too. They are taking away our choice for safe, healthy food options and leaving us with hormone injected, genetically modified food.
God Bless these farmers who keep going. Without them, we wouldn’t have any choices! If you’re concerned about where your food comes from, I recommend this documentary.
Highly Recommended
More Business of Being Born – This is a four-part series covers in depth what wasn’t in the documentary, Business of Being Born (highly recommended btw). They range from birth stories of the famous (Corkie’s sister from what’s the show…anyway, she’s still famous??) to an extended interview with Ina May Gaskin (who’s documentary Birth Story is available for download and looks amazing). Some run a little longer than others. Some are shot poorly and mic’d poorly so maybe that’s why it wasn’t used in the original Documentary. Nevertheless, the subject matter is interesting to me and should be seen by those having kids.
Recommended – only if you’re into babies and the medical/non medical industry.
Beer Wars – David vs. Goliath. Or Dog Fish Head vs. Bud/Coors/Miller. This is the story of independent brewers vs. the giants. Can you taste the difference between Bud, Coors or Miller?
Recommended
Tapped – This one should get you to stop buying bottled water. Not only is bottle water a waste of money, but the environmental cost to make and transport the bottles is wreaking havoc on people and the planet. The water is city water for heck’s sake! Anyway, Tapped covers everything that is wrong with bottle water and the industry.
Please, watch it.
(I’ve since watched 3 more. I think I’m done for a while)
Girl 27 – Talking with current lawyer’s and experts, this doc brought to light the case that was hidden for decades (and probably still not known by many) about an extra working for MGM who was rapped. It was front page news, she was labeled everything but a victim and the guy got away. The studio ran the city and it had its part in the outcome of this case.
This was a sad look at the movie industry and how a story like this was forgotten.
Recommended
Dive! Living off America’s Waste – At first I was a little disgusted with the notion of dumpster diving but when I saw all the food these people were pulling out of dumpsters, I was shocked. Here they were, feeding their family on food being tossed by stores like Trader Joe’s and Von’s days before they even expired when there are thousands and thousands of people hungry in the same city. Why wasn’t the store donating the soon-to-be-expired food to food shelf’s?
This 1 hour documentary follows dumpster divers and their attempt at sharing the “waste”. It *almost* made me want to check out the dumpster behind our TJ’s. Almost.
Recommended
Chemerical: Redefining Clean for a New Generation – I’ve been slowly changing over some household chemicals and beauty products for more natural ones. I’m convinced all these chemicals cause problems and with little ones in the house, I want to do what I can to limit their exposure. So when I saw this documentary in Netflix, I added it. It’s along the same lines of Garbage. It asks one family to rid their lives of all chemicals for 3 months. There’s nothing really shocking or overly scientific in it. So in that sense, it’s more entertainment watching this family try to get over their dependency of chemical cleaning and beauty products. And who knew this woman had such a dependency with cleaning products!
It was ok.