Review of That Sugar Film (2014) by Andrew B — 05 Mar 2015

THAT SUGAR FILM.

That Sugar Film is one man's journey into the effect of eating the sugar that is hidden in food marketed as healthy. There is increasing awareness that we live in the age of sugar with the population of our planet suddenly consuming massively more sugar. There are links between this new diet and obesity and mental illness. Warning bells were sounded in 2009 by childhood obesity expert Prof Robert H. Lustig at the University of California, whose youtube lecture went viral.

Damon Gameau's playful exploration of this crucially important subject is a big wake-up. He packages it in a palatable, family-friendly form, the perfect counter-punch to the food industry's current marketing of sugar. Gameau follows in the footsteps of Morgan Spurlock's gonzo doco, Supersize Me, where Spurlock offered himself as a guinea pig to look at a diet of Maccas. Here, Gameau puts his body on the line to look behind the health claims of fruit juice, flavoured yoghurt, muesli bars, breakfast cereal and more; a diet only of food marketed as healthy and natural but brimming with heaped spoonfuls of unwanted sugar.

Hugh Jackman's sand paintings of the history of sugar is the first of many bite-sized pleasures that make up this rollicking journey of discovery that is guaranteed to disturb your eating habits. With food corporations more in denial than the tobacco industry, tell-tale signs are products marked 'lo-fat' or '100% natural'.

What Gameau reveals about the fructose-laden fare cynically marketed to us at the cost of our health is nothing less than shocking. The film also stirs the pot about obesity, behavioural problems in children, and even rocks the foundations of consumerism. He is the canary in the coalmine and we must give thanks for the warning.

With great songs and great graphics this film is truly sickening, albeit with an upbeat ending. Suitable for all the family, That Sugar Film is compulsory viewing for anyone who has children or anything else to live for. This is THE one film to see ... before you die!

Rating 5 stars.

Andrew Bunney.

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