Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Unfortunately, this documentary could really use an impartial editor. It is overly long, repetitive and self-indulgent. It came across as propaganda. It is a pity because I expect GMOs hold great promise, but I doubt this will change minds. For that to happen the benefits need to speak for themselves and be overwhelmingly better than the potential problems. I don't think GMOs have found their killer app yet, but they may be close.Far too long was spent opposition bashing and on the safety issues. Yes, they need to be safe but much more they need to be beneficial. You had to wait till near the end to hear much about the benefits. The most important application to me was the use in bananas, because bananas are typically propagated as clones at it is not possible to fight disease by conventional breeding. This was not explained. Also, it is a staple for many people. But it looked like a tiny trial which had not been tested as a crop. So it's probably not ready for prime time. The main benefit they focused on was papaya in Hawaii, but the main beneficiaries of this are the papaya growers, so this will be less persuasive to a public who may already be in conflict with industrial farming.Another major problem with the film is that it bought into the anti- GMO movement's characterisation of GMOs as one thing. The first mention of not treating it monolithically was the Kenyan parliament saying they will examine it on a case-by-case basis - hooray! Now if the film had taken that approach it would have been more convincing. There are legitimate criticisms of the GMO industry and some of the most damning were not mentioned which seems disingenuous. People have been harmed by terminator genes and having organic crops polluted by wind pollination from GM crops 2km away, and then prosecuted for 'theft'. I was startled to hear the mosquitoes had been engineered to produce scorpion venom. Maybe that's perfectly safe but I don't know enough to be able to tell. It must be possible to cause harm through GE, so I don't see how you can make a blanket judgement that it's safe any more than you can condemn it all as unsafe.I think that if the GE industry had taken some sensible precautions then the public backlash may have been prevented. For example, maybe germline engineering should have been embargoed for a long time (as it is in human research), or at least wind pollinated species.I hear they are producing a short version of the film - good, I expect that will help. I think this is a great example of why you need a producer over the top of a director, or we'd all have to sit though directors' cuts.

This is an outstanding movie. A refreshing change from the unscientific perspectives pushed by so many of the other movies - movies that use emotion to manipulate the viewer into fearing the modern tools of science and agriculture. I was pleased that this movie devoted a few minutes to calling out some of the charlatans who profit from spreading fear & misinformation about agriculture and the modern tools for genetic improvement. I do wish more time was spent on exposing Vandana Shiva and the lucrative career she has made by spreading her lies and misinformation.I was very pleased that considerable time was spent on explaining the human and environmental costs of not using modern tools for genetic improvement of plants and agriculture.Another reviewer complains about the movie not showing both sides of the issue. I highly doubt the reviewer has made such a complaint about the several one-sided crock-u-mentaries out there. This reveals the reviewer didn't pay close attention to the film or didn't watch it at all.But I digress, the whole point of this movie is to offset the unscientific, emotive, manipulative perspectives of the other films. And the filmmakers largely did so by openly showing the other side and explaining how they are wrong and who they are. How the reviewer says this is a one- sided film is quite inscrutable.

A movie producer with no history of involvement in agriculture took a look at the case presented by both supporters and opponents of genetically modified crops used for food. He looked at it from the perspective of farmers, researchers and consumers concerned about the health and well-being of their families. In the end he chose to support what he learned from good science. The penalty for doing so, for him and his colleagues, was/is to be vilified by a small group who reject any suggestion that genetic engineering (or genetic modification if you will) is anything more than just an evil scheme to poison people because of greed. I have seen Food Evolution three times. It's both informative and entertaining. You should definitely view it too when/if you get the chance.

I saw this at the DC Environmental Film Festival. I didn't know to expect, given the audience, but the crowd really enjoyed the movie. So unlike many of the people reviewing here, I've actually seen the film. There was also a panel of experts discussing the film after the showing, and they did the best they could to answer audience member questions. This film addresses pretty much every argument you might have against GMOS, and then show how the claims against them are untrue. Issues of health, safety, environment, big business, corporate shills, weed resistance, pesticides, yield, etc. and correct the misinformation that 's out there on the web by talking to actual scientists who actually work with GMOs. A much better source than some random person who opposes them, don't you think?This is an excellent film to watch if you're not sure where you stand on the issue of GMOs, or have heard a bit about it, but don't know enough to really go either way. If you are completely closed- minded about the issue, then don't bother, because no amount of science, logic, and reason is going to change your mind, to paraphrase Tamar Haspel in the movie.