Le monde selon Monsanto

The World According to Monsanto is a good documentary about a great subject. Monsanto has received many condemnations in its quest for profits but this documentary provides a slightly more scathing review of the company.

The movie gives the obligatory history of Monsanto and it's damage to the world. And just when it looks like it is going to continue in mediocrity the movie changes gears and really attacks the subject at hand. Monsanto, and other multi-nationals, have for years now tried to effect people that make decisions and oversee "the public good". This movie, in the latter half, attacks Monsanto as a company which strives to blacklist dissenters and keep the truth from seeing the light of day. The movie uses various primary witnesses and at a couple great interviews. I would go into more detail but I prefer brevity.

The movie in my mind has three faults, interviews, a bleeding heart and the internet. The interviews were at times well done but at some points the interviewer spoke too much or the interviewee was lackluster (Dr. Michael Hansen was a horrendous interviewee). Occasionally the movie goes too far and essentially tells you FEEL BAD when all that needs to be said is this is what's happening (town of Anniston the old guy in the wheelchair). Finally, the documentarian uses the internet, even wikipedia, as a way to show the audience her search for the facts. I felt that it diminished credibility and wasn't an effective visually. (Yes, I know she didn't actually only use the internet for this documentary...)

A movie for people who wish to be called informed or like to know what's in their milk. 8/10

As detailed in the film, Monsanto has long been steeped in controversy. During its earliest incarnation at the start of the twentieth century, the company manufactured a series of products which were eventually deemed unacceptably toxic in their applications, including the DDT insecticide, Agent Orange and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB).

Monsanto produced the latter in the town of Anniston, Alabama for nearly four decades. When Anniston residents began to link the chemical to increased incidents of cancer, retardation and a variety of other chronic illnesses and abnormalities, they successfully sued the company to the tune of 700 million dollars.

The film spends much effort in exploring the dangers of Monsanto's most profitable product - Roundup, a herbicide that has proved enormously popular in both homes and agricultural communities for its ability to kill weeds. The filmmakers discover that the company was reprimanded twice for false advertising in claiming the product was biodegradable and friendly to the environment. Many concerns persist regarding its potential long-term effects on the environment and human health as proper testing has never been officially sanctioned.

This came out of France, and that should be shocking given the quality of it and their history with documentaries. They aren't exactly the BBC, they aren't really known for films like this...but I also live in the English speaking world so, some of them could be lost in translation.

However, the production values are fairly high for a French Documentary.

Another interesting note is that this was released in 2008 during a rash of conspiracy theories involving the company as a whole and GMOs in general, and it handled it in a very even and fair way without really buying into Alex Jones style media frenzy that surrounded the topic at the time.

That being said, it did make some very good points about the negative effects on farming as a whole and the cost that these things put on private farmers who can't keep seed for the next year.

However, it's take on what GMOs are and how they are made was dealt with vaguely and partially inaccurate. Without getting into details, it placed too much emphasis on one singular side of the debate to the point where the science wasn't exactly inaccurate, but more along the lines of cherry picked to fit the thesis, which shouldn't have a place in a documentary.

Other than that, it was a fairly fair film, even if it was, from the get-go, intended to be a hit-piece, it was a mostly honest hit-piece.

This documentary tells the story of how the evil and greedy American corporation Mansanto has developed food staples (soy, corn) that have been genetically modified (GM) and carry potentially lethal (carcenigenous) strains and how it has conspired, with the help of corrupt officials everywhere, to have those GM seeds gradually replace the existing ones worldwide, all in the name of profit, thereby levying royalties on anyone who uses their products.

These GM organisms are also based on a lie. They were created to eliminate the need for insecticides, yet require just as much insecticides and fertilizers as non-genetically modified organisms.

This unrelenting policy has made possible the silencing of dissenting scientists, the firing or corruption of government employees and officials in the United States and abroad and the displacement, elimination, impoverishment and, frequently, death or suicide of thousands upon thousands of small farmers in the world's poorer countries (Brazil, Mexico,Argentina, India, and so on). Monsanto's deadly poisonous seeds are also destroying by contamination the genetic stock of most foods on this planet so that the time will soon come when the Earth's population will never be sure of what it is ingesting and of its effect on their health.

It sounds like a sci-fi or at least nightmarish scenario. Unfortunately, it's all true. This film could only be made in France as the European Union requires the labeling of all GM products while the US do not.

Marie-Monique Robin is a journalist which has found the new source of all truth: Google and anecdotal evidence.

She is not new to sensationalist subjects. Some of her movies revolve around Urban Legends like "Organ Snatchers" and "Le Sixième Sens, science et paranormal" which present paranormal activities in a very complaisant manner. Who doesn't like a crunchy scary story once in a while?

This movie present Monsanto as the big bad bad guy in Walt Disney style.

One of her point about the big M. is the infamous case of the Indian suicide which I find disgusting to use: this a simple appeal to emotions using somebody else suffering without any proof whatsoever. This Indian suicide story has been debunked so many times. Today about 90% of the cotton in India is indeed GMO. Reality doesn't match the horror stories of Marie-Monique.

This movie doesn't stand the test of time because it is an ideologically oriented piece that falls apart under scientific scrutiny. Just a gathering of fears mongering and loosely tied together bunch of anecdote.