This is a solid documentary. It is clear that the production budget was low, but that doesn't mean that the film looks amateurish. My beef with the picture is that I think the film makers play dumb a little too often. They are the surrogate for the audience, and it is a bit of a slap in the face to think that Americans don't know some if the basic farming staples. At first I thought i might know some of this because I was raised and currently live in the "corn belt". But for example are we really that surprised that corn is planted, protected from bugs, fertilized and harvested by large tractors and combines? Compared to the traditional way of farming by hand or with long forgotten farming tools. I could have done with a little less of the soft sell.
What these two guys did find out was fascinating. Things like farmers used to be paid by the government NOT to produce on all their land. This way the demand was high and then the selling cost of grains would also be high. Currently farmers are encouraged to grow as much as possible and they are given a bunch of subsidies to counter balance the low cost of grain. Also, most of the corn grown in Iowa (millions of acres) are not immediately consumable by humans. 90% of the corn grown in Iowa goes to grain to feed farm animals.
This is where the film starts to get a little expose on you. It just barely chips at the tip of the iceberg of the meat industry in this country. Films like "Fast Food Nation", and "Food Inc." both really delve into this dark and disgusting corner of the food market. Apparently corn is the majority of what cows eat now a days and it is killing them. We plump them up to get the most meat per cow. Even at the risk of endangering the cows and ourselves in the process.
We then spend a good deal of time on High Fructose Corn Syrup. This is a food additive created from corn. It is in nearly everything we eat or drink. It is quickly replacing natural sugar because it is cheaper and easier to produce. It is most likely one of the major causes of diabetes in this country. Let's just say if a man walked up to you on the street and tried to sell you and ounce of HFCS (and told you everything it does to your body) you would run away and call the cops.
The movie then hits on the impact that all this industrialization has had on the family farmer. A nitch of small town communities that is rapidly disappearing. They boys rent a acre of land off a kind gentle farmer. They spend a lot of time with this fella getting to know him and listening to stories of days gone by. Then at the end of the film he is forced to leave the family farm and auction off his possessions due to lack of funds.
The films is sort of an up beat picture for all of the negative impacts they find that corn has on people. Mostly because they didn't focus on one issue. They jumped around and didn't line the cross hairs up and ask probing questions. The film makers seemed content to skim the surface of some major issues in service of a peppy story. I enjoyed King Corn, but would recommend the fantastic documentary Food Inc. for a hard hitting, smart, informative doc on the food industry. But the next time I drive by a grain elevator and see a small mountain of corn on the ground around it, I will think twice about scarfing down the cheeseburger and large soda. I would give King Corn a 3/5 stars. Check out the link below for the trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiCRwMMh9k8
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