King Corn
King Corn
G | 12 October 2007 (USA)
King Corn Trailers

King Corn is a fun and crusading journey into the digestive tract of our fast food nation where one ultra-industrial, pesticide-laden, heavily-subsidized commodity dominates the food pyramid from top to bottom – corn. Fueled by curiosity and a dash of naiveté, two college buddies return to their ancestral home of Greene, Iowa to figure out how a modest kernel conquered America. With the help of some real farmers, oodles of fertilizer and government aide, and some genetically modified seeds, the friends manage to grow one acre of corn. Along the way, they unlock the hilarious absurdities and scary but hidden truths about America’s modern food system in this engrossing and eye-opening documentary.

Reviews
Softwing

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

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Huievest

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

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Plustown

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

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Bessie Smyth

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

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maxwelldeux

Undoubtedly, this documentary starts quite slow. They started off talking about how they were going to plant an acre of corn and follow it throughout its lifespan, including all the way to consumer. Nice premise, but over the first 30 minutes of this were talking about planting and growing corn, with no mention of where it was going ("it" being both the corn and the documentary). My wife even asked at one point where the heck this documentary was going.Once they sold their corn in the documentary, it started to get interesting. They actually started talking about where the corn goes, and all the various ways it gets into our bodies. Most of the rest of the documentary was devoted to this topic, and the makers of the film managed to explore this topic without judgment. While you could infer the filmmakers' position from the film if you're reasonably intelligent, they don't come out and say it explicitly. They allow the audience to draw their own conclusions. This is one of the bonuses of the film.Though a lot of the information in the film is old and relatively well known, especially if you watch some of the modern food documentaries, it's a nice introduction to a lot of the food issues we face as a society.

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tsancio

King Corn is an excellent documentary of the entire process of the corn kennel, from its genetic origin to its final use in food. The young protagonists start out from their worry that the junk food they eat will make them live less years than the previous generation and use this energy to investigate the main column of American food which is corn. As they decide to grow an acre of corn in IOWA, they interview people from all stages of the process and make sure that their work is not seen as a all-out criticism of corn. Reading between the lines, you can conclude that although the corn subsidies have made food much cheaper for Americans, it has also reduced its quality. Of course, you have to figure that out yourself since they don't propose a solution. However, they interview enough people to allow you to think. For example, when talking to a farmer that operates a cattle feed lot in which cows are given antibiotics so they can process the excessive amounts of corn that will make them fat, the man replies bluntly: "yeah, we can have our cows eat grass, but that would make it more expensive".They also give a primer on high-fructose corn syrup, the preferred sugar in the USA food industry. Heck, it's sugar. But since it's so cheap, tons of food products contain it.King Corn is an excellent movie for those who don't understand farm subsidies and why they were put in the first place. It's also very balanced and does not cast any of the participants as evildoers. It's just the final (baseball) scene that lets in their youth idealism and pretty much disowns the extensive work they did for the past hours.

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cumberpanda

I was forced to watch this in my Tech class for our unit in Agricultural technology, and all in all, it wasn't bad, as far as amateur documentaries go. As with all food documentaries, it touched on the explicit dangers of obesity and how fat Americans are, but not to the point of preachiness. Most of the focus was on the process of corn, from growing to harvesting to the elevator. Although the subject content is not as exciting as the apocalypse, it's important enough to be seen. We really don't realize how much corn is a part of our daily food intake. While calling King Corn "enlightening" is a stretch for some, it opened my eyes. I not going to start obsessively reading the ingredients for every single food product I eat, but you can't accuse me of ignorance. In short, King Corn is good for a school assignment, but watching it on your own will more likely than not make you a grade one nerd.

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Amadeus11

Wow~ I mean this movie was just amazing. def. one of my favorite docu pics of last year.When I first heard about king corn I was convinced that it would basically be a typical look at how we, the American people, are over exposed and over weight from feeding on the "natural American diet" which is of course bad for you; much like that of what we saw in super size me. But that wasn't the case here. in short, king corn does a great job explaining the facts of the corn farming process, and the process by which corn itself ends up being part of our daily diets.king corn has its typical docu moments though out, including interviews with politicians, and confessional citizens whose lives have been affected by obesity. However, its not over done here. Instead were given an exciting look at agriculture in the United States, and good story telling which does a great job delivering its message in a very original way.

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