Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution

The crusade against agricultural methods that result in produce that can do consumers more harm than good is treated in a local fashion that nonetheless carries a universal message in Jean-Paul Jaud's activist documentary. In the village of Barjac in the foothills of the Cévennes mountains of southern France, the mayor initiates a campaign to change the eating habits of the entire community for the better, but the focus is on the local schools, where the cafeterias switch to an organic menu and the students not only learn about the dangers posed by additives and pesticides but they also grow vegetable gardens as part of their class work—and taste the result. The footage from Barjac (much of it obviously staged rather than caught on-the-fly) alternates with excerpts from international conferences in which scientists issue warnings about the effect of chemicals and pollution on the food chain and the water supply, as well as the environmental impact of long-distance transport of fruits and vegetables. In addition, charts reveal the unsavory ingredients of processed foods and detail the potentially harmful traces found in produce grown with traditional farming techniques. And most affectingly, parents tell of their young children stricken with serious, often fatal, illnesses attributed to toxins in their diet and the environment. Food Beware is a plea for both French farmers to move toward sustainable agriculture and French consumers to become more aware, but it transcends its national audience with salient points that obviously apply elsewhere. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)