Good documentaries!

2/20/08

King Corn
Directed by Aaron Woolf

There's a wonderful little documentary floating around right now called King of Corn. It's about a couple of guys, recently graduated from college, who decide to go to Iowa (where neither is from, but both have some roots) and plant, grow, and sell an acre of corn. After all, as they find out, humans are full of it. Corn, that is. TVOR confesses that she was somewhat dubious about the entertainment value of this enterprise, but she saw and liked the film. A lot. The guys have a lot of interesting experiences while all this is happening, as it takes a while for corn to grow. Our protagonists spend time wandering around grocery stores reading labels to see how many foods have corn as an ingredient, visiting stockyards where much of the harvested grain goes, interviewing Earl Butz (Nixon's Secretary of Agriculture), the father of current farm policy, and doing all sorts of other corn-related things. This film is a little Supersize Me, a little Michael Pollan (who is interviewed in it), a little Fast Food Nation (the book, not the movie), and more. You'll find it entertaining, and unless you're more knowledgeable than most, educational as well.

The film is directed by Aaron Woolf, the cousin of one of the guys, who went to Iowa with them. When TVOR saw the film, he did a Q&A after the screening. He felt so strongly about what he learned making this film that he is opening a grocery store which sells only local foods. Hmmm.

King Corn is in a very limited release, and you'll be lucky to catch it in a theater. But an alert reader (TVOR is delighted to have readers--the fact that they are alert is icing on the cake) has pointed out that there will be a free screening at the Northwest Film Forum in Seattle on Saturday, March 22nd at 4:00. Just RSVP at 800 930 6060 and press 3. See it if you can. And then start reading the labels on your food.


The Rape of Europa
Written and directed by Richard Berge, Nicole Newnham, and Bonni Cohen

There's another fascinating documentary in a few theaters right now too. It's called The Rape of Europa, and it tells the story of art theft on a grand scale before and during World War II, and how a portion of that art has been (and continues to be) restored to its rightful owners or heirs. Hitler didn't make it into art school in Vienna as a young man, but he did have a love of art. And he was Hitler. Why shouldn't he steal anything he could get his hands on? And why shouldn't his cronies steal what they wanted too? They did it on a small scale (from Jewish families as they were sent away to camps) and on a large scale (hit lists were developed for works to be targeted in countries that were about to be invaded). After the war, huge caches of art were discovered and had to be returned, as much as possible, to the rightful owners. The story goes on today, as some works are still in dispute. FYI, the book is based on a book of the same name by Lynn H. Nicholas.


Video notes:

Some films previously recommended by TVOR are now on video, so you might want to check them out if you've missed them so far. Here they are, with the blog entry dates:

Gone Baby Gone 10/20/07
We Own the Night 10/20/07
Michael Clayton 10/3/07
Into the Wild 9/28/07
Across the Universe 9/27/07

Happy viewing!