Review: Forks over Knives

Synopsis – Stop eating meat and dairy. Seriously, you’ll live longer.

Here is the full cast. Since it’s a documentary there are no celebrities to speak of other than clips of news casts and Bill Maher.

Sometimes a documentary is so inspirational one cannot help but be driven into action. This was the next film in my March film project, one that my mother had asked me on more than one occasion to watch. Being the terrible son that I am, I chose to watch several seasons of USA shows (Characters Welcome) instead. Today I broke that chain and sat down and watched the movie. After it was over I promptly put on my walking shoes and took a walk over to a Blenders in the Grass that is not too far away, but far enough to justify it as an exercise expenditure. There I got 2 ounces of wheat grass juice, drank it down, and then walked back to the apartment. Sitting at my computer, stirring the movie around in my head, I suddenly found something else stirring unexpectedly. The wheat grass juice soon left my body the same way it came in, and I now have that terrible taste doubled up in my mouth. This was totally my fault. Walking as fast as I was combined with a sudden consumption of something I don’t normally drink and then more walking was a recipe for disaster.

 The movie didn't tell me to do all this by the way. I’m the one who decided it was time to take a step in the right direction health-wise. This film simply presents evidence that suggests that our mostly meat and dairy diet is probably killing us. I think those of us who have at least a passing interest in health probably already know that. How the film assists that knowledge is by showing a few people who change their diet and get results that don’t seem possible otherwise.  Along the lines of Morgan Spurlock’s doc Super Size Me, the writer and director of this movie submits himself to a diet regimen to see the effect it will have on his well-being. This is after he talks about how he just got done drinking 2 Redbulls and a 12 oz Coke (I don’t about you, but that sounds like insanity to me). Anyway, that particular thread is mostly ignored until the very end of the movie, because unlike Spurlock the documentarian decided not to make the film about him. There are others who are also put on a new diet regimen and we get to see the results of their journeys. The film also tells the story of two doctors and their work when pertaining to healthcare. They both figure out that diet is a huge part of what determines our quality of life and the documentary names a lot of studies that back up their findings. Forks over Knives is good that way, not trying to dumb down the information too much as opposed to another documentary, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, which is full of cartoons and pop music, therefore more entertaining but less informative in the long run. It seems to be a well thought out, if sometimes slow, information delivery system, and it definitely has me thinking which should be the goal of any documentary. I only gave it 3 stars out of 5 on Letterboxd because while it is a good documentary, it isn’t necessarily special as a film.

I don’t intend to do my regular breakdown here. I will say that I think watching this doc while be beneficial to almost anyone. I am very glad I watched it.