Super Size Me

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Food For Thought

By Karen Hershenson

Contra Costa Times

1-24-4

 

PARK CITY, Utah - The transformation on screen is dramatic: In just one

month, 33-year-old Morgan Spurlock goes from being a slender, robust man

to a bloated slug with creaky knees and drastic mood swings.

 

He gains 25 pounds. His cholesterol soars. His liver function is

dangerously impaired. At one point, his doctor gravely warns him about

when he might want to call 911.

 

Yet all this physical and mental distress is self-imposed. In order to

make a point about the deteriorating American diet and resulting obesity

epidemic, Spurlock vowed to eat nothing but food offered at McDonald's for

30 days. The result is " Super Size Me, " one of the hot tickets in the

documentary competition at the Sundance Film Festival, which continues

here through Sunday.

 

The film is both thought-provoking and hilarious. We witness Spurlock

wolfing down his first super-sized meal. Soon after come the " McGurgles "

and the " McGas, " and finally he upchucks in the restaurant parking lot,

the camera right there.

 

Later, his girlfriend, a vegan chef, shares another, more intimate result

of a fast-food diet -- sagging sexual performance.

 

" I think the saturated fats are starting to get to his penis, " she says.

 

Ground-breaking documentaries like this one have become a growing element

at Sundance. Following the box-office success of films such as " Spellbound,

" " Winged Migration " and Michael Moore's " Bowling for Columbine, " docs are

hot -- there are a record 40-plus of them screening in this year's

festival. Even the opening-night film, " Riding Giants, " was a documentary.

 

And the more receptive audiences become, the more the genre evolves. Past

Oscar winner Jessica Yu, for example, used a cutting-edge animation

technique (and a staff of seven animators) to create " In the Realms of the

Unreal, " her stunning competition film about Henry Darger, a Chicago

recluse who left an amazing legacy -- a 15,000-page novel and hundreds of

color-saturated paintings, some more than 10 feet long.

 

Spurlock, whose work is more in the irreverent, bad-boy vein, agrees that

audiences have become more receptive to documentaries because of such

pioneers as Moore and Errol Morris ( " Thin Blue Line, " " Fog of War " ), but

he also credits TV shows including " The Bachelor " and " The Simple Life "

for their growing success.

 

" In the past few years, with the rise of reality television, I think that'

s really broken down the barriers of accepting them on a whole new level, "

he says. " Documentaries are the original reality television. "

 

Spurlock's own dive into an altered reality was more dramatic than he

could have imagined. One doctor compared it to " Leaving Las Vegas, " in

which the Nicolas Cage character tries to drink himself to death in just

weeks.

 

" I felt consistently tired and sick and miserable, " says Spurlock. " I don'

t think anybody realized how bad things were going to get. "

 

Yet the filmmaker insists he wasn't trying to nail the fast-food chain,

which never responded to repeated interview requests.

 

" McDonald's is a symbol for me in the film, " says Spurlock. " They're

Everyman food. They're all over the world, they're the biggest, and they

represent every single fast-food restaurant every place. "

 

He had rules for his McAdventure: he could only eat what was on the menu;

he had to try everything; had to eat three square meals a day; and had to

super size if it was offered. He worked closely with a team of medical

experts, who charted changes in his body. Before the month was over, they

were begging him to stop.

 

Spurlock still thinks the Big Mac is a tasty burger, but labels the Filet

O'Fish " a disaster. "

 

Still, the problem extends beyond fast food, he says. It starts at home,

where overworked baby boomers are all too willing to tell themselves, " Hey,

I do deserve a break today, " and eat the majority of meals out.

 

At press time, Spurlock was negotiating with several potential

distributors. But along with a theatrical release, he would love for

" Super Size Me " to air on cable (he doubts the networks would touch it),

and for it to be shown in schools and on college campuses, where

unhealthful eating is rampant.

 

And while the public may crave sizzling hot fries, they're also starting

to crave real stories like this one; films that make you think. They're

tired of seeing the same formulas over and over, Spurlock says.

Documentaries offer something original.

 

" We're tired of being spoon-fed such inane curiosities. ... There's only

so many times you can watch 'Police Academy 6 or 7.' "

 

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/7787109.htm

 

 

 

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If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play.

~ John Cleese, a Monty Python (1939- )