- Release year: 2024
- Directors: Pablo D’Ambrosi and Giulia Innocenzi.
- Producer: Giulia Innocenzi.
- Screenplay by: Pablo D’Ambrosi and Giulia Innocenzi.
- Cinematography by: Krishna Agazzi.
- Composer: Alessandro Giovanetto.
Synopsis: a journalist investigates European farms that receive taxpayer’s money for their animal-friendly, ecological practices. Needless to say, their activities are anything but.
Shotgun Commentary: remember when Food, Inc. (2008) came out and you, as a European, breathed easy knowing that didn’t happen in oh-so-clean-and-moral Europe? Yeah, it’s time to wake the F up.
Review
Food for Profit follows journalist Giulia Innocenzi and filmmaker Pablo D’Ambrosi on their investigative journey into the reality of subsidised farms. With the help of people posing as workers and scientists, and occasional security, they expose the lies and dirty business that take place within the European Parliament, as well as in national European governments and subsidised farms.
If you are one of the persons who still delude themselves thinking that the horrible things happening in the American food industry could never happen here because we’ve got actual laws to protect us, this documentary will feel like an unexpected ice bucket challenge. If anything, the feature is an invitation to open your eyes to the horrible truth so you stop contributing to it. And no, that doesn’t necessarily mean going vegan.
You can watch this documentary in the upcoming week, in the 3rd Cinecittà Italian Doc Season!
Rough start, smooth sailing
The beginning of the film is not very engaging, the intonation of the voiceover is anything but inviting, and the introductory story of how Giulia was astonished to see that pigs are being mistreated comes across as more fiction than reality. Not because pig abuse isn’t real, but because it is very common knowledge by now. Much like it happens with the rest of the documentary, it may infuriate, frustrate and sadden you, but surprise? At this point, the surprise factor is long dead in terms of animal food industry practices.
After those few introductory minutes, the real deal begins. As expected, you can see all the horrible abuse and clumsy murdering that takes place in the farms. Animals left agonising, workers torturing chickens for fun, pigs and cows being beaten for no reason, etc.
The hypocrisy of it all
The most shocking thing about all that isn’t the practices themselves. Rather, that those farms are being given taxpayer’s money for being humane and ecological in their practices. Farms that haven’t cleaned the floors in which the cows live for years, are granted thousands of money for their “good practices”. It’s a scandal and everyone involved should be dying of shame, but they don’t, because they are part of that inexplicable group of humans who feel no shame, remorse, or humanity at all. They should really share their recipe for sleeping at night, at least they would cure insomnia.
Up until this point, you might be thinking, “well, politicians don’t even know what they are signing for”. That is a common narrative, thinking that they just get their money and don’t even know what they are doing. Greedy dumdums, if you will. Sadly, you are also wrong there.
When given the possibility to support experimentation to give pigs six legs and cows two reproductive systems to make more milk, NO ONE said anything negative about it. You could see through the camera of the actor how their eyes became euro signs. Moral reservations? None. Care about the animals’ wellbeing? You must be joking. All of them were willing to help as long as they get a chunk of change for it.
Surprise! You’re also in danger
Even if you are one of those people who just doesn’t want to know or doesn’t care about animal suffering because “I could never give up cheese” or “meat just tastes so good”, this documentary will make you care about what is going on and fast.
From workers being enslaved to work on the farms to ecosystems turned toxic waste, through inordinate amounts of antibiotics being given to animals, everything goes back to us, humans. Even if you are lucky enough to not be part or know of anyone being treated like a slave, forbidden from going to the doctor when they get sick, living in a room with twenty other people and having absolutely no privacy, you still have to face the other two issues. Living in a wasteland is no walk in the park, and being immune to antibiotics won’t be much fun when you get infected by bacteria and there is no way to treat you.
All in all, Food for Profit is an eye-opening documentary that exposes how wrong we were on our beliefs in the European food industry. While corrupt, heartless politicians are nothing new, watching them lie to our faces and behaving like heroes is a nauseating but much-needed reminder of the fact that it is the people, and not the politicians, who have the power to change things. After all, not eating meat and fish in every single meal is not that much to ask, is it?
Advice to take from this movie:
- Humans need to eat meat OR fish once a week. Being brainwashed by the meat industry doesn’t change that fact, even if you refuse to believe it.
- A documentary like this should have an available list of companies they investigated, so people can avoid their products if they wish.
- Buying local is hard and a bit more expensive, but if you can, do.
What’s your take? Have you watched Food for Profit? What do you think about these practices? Don’t hesitate to let me know your thoughts in the comments section below, or leave a message in my contact page! For more reviews and cinema-related articles, check out the rest of my blog! 😀