While most documentaries only highlight problems, Forks Over Knives is all about the solution. We have a growing problem in America, and the things growing…are us. Backed by years and years of research and studies, Forks Over Knives presents the data with the typical movie mechanics that audiences are used to from recent documentaries. It’s an important message that needs to spread and I think this movie is a great vessel for it to take off. At times, the documentary isn’t as polished as it should be but the message is loud and clear: for a healthy and longer life, practice a whole food planet based diet. It’s not as fun as Super Size Me or eye opening as Food, Inc. but there are a lot more action points and proof of the solution so this is the next step in the war on food and the problems that come along with it.
The real juice of this documentary are the facts which came from a slew of doctors but primarily two: Dr. T Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn. One of which is a man of science, who provides the foundation and ideas, the other a clinical researcher, who provides the claims to back them up. Together, their theories just make sense and the results prove it. Both come from similar backgrounds growing up on farms and believing the same misconceptions that most Americans, as well as most of the world now, believe in: that protein from animals is paramount and dairy products are crucial. As they traveled the world and conducted research of various people, they saw that meat based diets and dairy intake actually caused more problems and disease than it helped. The most fascinating thing is that switching to a whole food plant based diet did not only stop the associated diseases but in many cases reversed it!
Dr. Terry Mason had some of the best lines in the movie
The documentary slices these findings from the doctors with real life relatable stories in the form of an average joe…well average joey (Joey Aucoin) who was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and took countless pills everyday, a funny Chinese man (Anthony Yen) who had 5 bypass surgeries and the filmmaker/narrator himself (Lee Fulkerson) who wanted to put his money where his mouth was and change his own diet. All three went to a new breed of doctor who shunned traditional medicines and put each of these patients on a strict whole food plant based diet. Through the documentary, you follow their progression and the results are almost too good to believe. The movie also goes political highlighting the conflict of interest between scientists, policy makers and companies as well as touching on the environmental impact that food has.
These are all the medications that Joey Acoin has to take with him daily
Just like this review, the movie builds up, sets up and then cuts to another story. After a while, this got pretty annoying but I could understand that they wanted to keep the attention of the audience. I would have appreciated this film if it was half the time and all about the facts because the information itself is powerful and gripping enough in my opinion. Through all these different stories, they threw in the typical man on the street interviews where everybody said the exact word they wanted them to say, hilarious historic quotes and proverbs, cute animations and easy to understand graphs that people could remember and lots of archival footage that the audience could chuckle at. It’s a mishmash of modern documentary techniques that allow the not-so hidden message to seep through to unexpecting audiences: change the way you eat and have a whole food plant based diet.
You might be wondering why I keep repeating whole food plant based diet but once you see this film, you’ll understand…they must have said it over a dozen times to really hammer it in. Aside from the relatable characters in the movie, they added some extraordinary stories of people who became vegan including UFC fighter Mac Danzig, Ruth Heidrich, a six-time Ironman Triathlon finisher…in her 70s and Rip Esselstyn who is the son of Dr. Esselstyn and a firefighter in Austin, TX. These are some of the strongest and healthiest people in our society and they’re on a whole food plant based diet. Fork Over Knives tries to break the popular misconceptions that society and big agriculture has been advertising for years and display the alternatives that are possible.
Writer/Director Lee Fulkerson getting his results from Dr. Matthew Lederman
Sadly, you can tell the movie is pretty low production with shoddy audio and camerawork at times. The movie is obviously ridiculously one sided and even has a couple segments with arguments from the opposing side but they quickly rebut how wrong they are with their own findings. Even so, the story shines through and the message is easily understood through the structure and content of the film. I will definitely be telling everybody to see this film starting with my parents, family, friends, co-workers every single person on every single social network and you. This isn’t just a story about changing ones own diet to live a healthier, better life…but a way to help our country and planet too. It may sound very cheesy and hippie…but the proof is in the pudding…that you shouldn’t be eating.
Tags: Anthony Yen, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Dr. Matthew Lederman, Dr. T Colin Campbell, Dr. Terry Mason, Forks Over Knives, Joey Aucoin, Lee Fulkerson, Mac Danzig, Rip Esselstyn, Ruth Heidrich
Matthew Fong created advancescreenings.com and is the lead contributor. He watches every type of movie and will try almost anything twice. You can follow him on twitter here: @matthewfong
