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Dream diet or gastric nightmare?

Say what you will about Michael Moore, but he's certainly bringing documentaries to the mainstream. This film is yet another impressive satirical piece of non-fiction that Joe Public can enjoy just as much as Mr Intellectual. In fact, with Moore recently announcing that he wouldn't be submitting Fahrenheit 911 for the best documentary Oscar this year, Super Size Me could be in a position to take the golden dildo home for itself.

The concept of this documentary is simple on paper. In order to explore obesity in the United States and the dangers of fast food, director Morgan Spurlock takes it upon himself to live off nothing but McDonald's for an entire month, recording his progress and bodily transformations throughout the process. The findings are, rather unsurprisingly, terrifying.

The Rules

Quite simply, if it isn't on the McDonald's menu, he's not allowed to eat it. All three meals a day must be from McDonald's, and that also includes drinks (even the McWater). The clincher is that any time he's asked by the cashier if he wants to "super size" his meal, he has to say yes.

Not living in the States, seeing these super sized meals for the first time frightened me. Just forgetting about the food for a minute, the drinks alone look more like full size buckets than drink cartons. It's just bewildering that people can physically consume that much in one go, let alone the fact that many purposely choose to.

What makes this film work as a piece of entertainment is Morgan himself. He's funny, upbeat and non-judgemental. Unlike Moore, you never really feel like he has anything against his subjects - in fact it looks like he enjoys McDonald's as much as the next guy, tucking in and enjoying his new lifestyle with a smile...at first.

Things seem to turn around after Morgan eats his first super sized meal however. In a highlight of the film, we cut forward in 5 minute increments from the beginning of the meal to the end as he attempts to traverse his way through the sack full of food before him, each time noticing that eagerness waning more and more. By minute 20 he literally can't force any more down, and subsequently vomits.

The McStomach-Ache

It's harder than it looks

From here on its a constant downward spiral of headaches, chest pains, tiredness, depression and most peculiarly of all, a strange gushing sensation through his groin. His wife isn't too impressed with his bed side performance either.

Morgan's ongoing Jackass stunt of a diet is what makes the film such a hoot to watch, but studying it for a second time, it's clear that he merely uses this as a tool to get bums in seats, then ingeniously, and almost subconsciously, proceeds to hammer rather frighten facts and figures at the viewer in-between the footage of him downing his 20th Big Mac. The alarming amount of teenagers developing diabetes, the unbelievable ratio of soda machines to people in the US, and the travesty of a budget McDonald's uses on advertising each year to name but a few.

I won't spoil the ultimate outcome of Morgan's experiment for you, but needless to say, even after one week the results aren't looking too good for McDonald's.

Missing the Point

The golden arches of death

While well received, the documentary is receiving some flak in the press; accusations of Morgan blowing things out of proportion, that no normal person would ever eat that much McDonald's in one month, and that of course it's gonna turn you into a big fat tub monster. If you ask me, such arguments are irrelevant though.

Let's say a seriously obese person only eats at McDonald's once a day (if that) - do you really think that they then go home and eat a balanced nutritional plate of steamed vegetables for their other two meals? Unfortunately, I doubt it. They may not be eating three meals at McDonald's, but they may well be eating three meals that are just as harmful, and that's the core of the film.

More importantly, there's a greater and more subtle message at work here too. A tale of dark, evil corporations brain washing young children into eating their toxic food at an early age until they get so crippled as to require life threatening surgery in adulthood, or face death.

The best thing about it though is that it really does get you thinking health consciously. In fact, immediately after my first viewing, I was compelled to go work out for an hour.

Best of all though, McDonald's reportedly stopped super sizing meals after this flick debuted at Sundance!

(Pictures courtesy of Super Size Me)