King Corn
The documentary encompasses several layered stories. First the use of corn and corn-based products in prepared food products in virtually everything we eat, including the relatively inexpensive cattle corn feed. (The piece on high fructose corn syrup was especially well done, with the voiceover of the earnest food chemist patiently and protractedly droning instructions of the involved process of cook up a batch of HFCS.)
Lyndon Johnson-era subsidy policies
paid farmers to grow an overabundance of corn. The two young men suited up to
visit the aged former Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz, who championed in the
1960s, and continues to support subsidies enabling the “age of plenty.”
Another theme is the
industrialization of agriculture. Using a borrowed tractor, the young farmers
planted an acre of corn, more than 30,000 seeds, in a bit over one-quarter
hour. Later, they enlist the help of a patient farmer to drive a tractor
depositing fertilizer, with Curt appearing a bit frightened by the required
speed of the tractor. Interviews with farmers showed them as contemptuous of
the product the government paid them handsomely to grow. The corn grown by
almost every farmer here was not for human consumption, but for cattle feed,
and presumably, ethanol.
The sympathetic portrayal of the
hard-working and genial people of this this Midwest farm community draws in the
audience from on a personal level. I choked up at the proud parade of high
school bands and baton twirlers followed by enormous John Deere tractors with
10-foot-diameter tires. The family of the young farmer who helped fertilize the
field was shown enjoying the parade.
And speaking of choking up, a man
raised in Greene returned after retirement. He is shown diving into the 6-foot-high
corn rows with the filmmakers, and then getting misty-eyed talking about his
dreams of flying over cornfields. The farmer who rented an acre to the young
filmmakers progressed from skeptical and incredulous over the rental request,
to an outspoken critic of the agriculture that has been foisted upon them.
Ellis and Cheney illustrated the development of corn with a bit of meticulous
and clever frame-by-frame photography.
A serendipitous sighting of a license
plate, CORNFED, in a fast-food drive-through led to a meeting with a sketchy
guy who revealed more dark secrets about corn as cattle feed. The film-makers
followed up with a trip to a grim and desolate confined feed lot, where cattle
are “finished” before slaughter. It was, to me, the saddest and most disturbing
moment of the film. I was a bit surprised the filmmakers did not touch on
ethanol production.
In retrospect, ethanol would warrant
and entire feature-length documentary itself. King Corn won the prestigious
Peabody Award, and all three man have gone on to produce other documentaries.
The documentary was Independent Lens
production on PBS.
Particularly interesting are the Behind the Scenes and Filmmaker statement.
Particularly interesting are the Behind the Scenes and Filmmaker statement.
