Modern agriculture affects not only every American, but nearly everyone in the world. It is for this reason that the message of this documentary is so important: corn production has become a purely economic feat rather than a natural, sustainable task.
The documentary linked the many and serious health problems in the US to the fact that majority of the US population is literally made of corn - this is true whether a person consumes beef, french fries, cupcakes or soda. The issue that most of the corn produced in the US is being fed to unhealthy cattle living in unsanitary conditions was explored. The well known problem of pesticide usage, crop resistance, and environmental degradation was also mentioned. An extremely eye-opening interview with Earl Butz, former Secretary of Agriculture, described the motivation and implementation of the "food industry" as we know it. And also, the very real and scary struggles of the average American corn farmer in this country was a focus, which is an aspect of food production that often gets ignored.
I felt that this film was engaging in the beginning, but quickly lost it's "spark." The topics explored in the movie switched from one subject to another without much notice and left the viewer struggling to connect the main ideas. The movie demonstrated separate, individual, and important aspects, but did not connect them in a way that made viewing the entire program enjoyable and enriching.
However, this is definitely an important movie. It really causes a person to assess his own values as well as the food system he participates in. Fortunately, it seems as if more and more people are becoming informed on these issues. It is even possible that within the next few decades, this country will witness the overthrow of King Corn.
