'The Silence of the Lambs' personified

I found the film Wolf Creek so scary I couldn’t watch it after dark [1]. And I haven’t dared to try The Texas Chainsaw Massacre let alone The Silence of the Lambs. In other words, horror movies aren’t for me. And I’m not for them. So I avoid horror films. Like the proverbial plague. But sometimes one slips in under my radar. A cinematic wolf in sheep’s clothing. An example is the 2008 doco Food, Inc. [2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. Last Tuesday night Sweetheart Vivienne and I watched it. Its name’s benign enough – though perhaps the Inc’s a giveaway in this era of corporate excess. But its content puts it fairly and squarely in the horror movie genre. To me it’s a visual depiction of Michael Pollan’s 2006 book The Omnivore’s Dilemma [7]. Indeed Pollan’s in the film. As an articulate good guy, along with Joel Salatin [8]. But the bad guys are legion. And they’re all corporate – corporate bullies. Faceless and soulless agribusinesses. Out to screw the farmers on one side and the consumers on the other. And succeeding in screwing everyone including, I dare say, themselves – though they’re too stupid to know it. And how do we know the movie makers aren’t biased against them? Because all the bad guys declined to be interviewed. Oh, and the biggest bully? Why M**santo, of course. Easily. In summary, if you eat food you must watch, i.e. endure, Food, Inc. Its website says ‘You’ll never look at dinner the same way’ [9]. Oh yeah.

farmdoc's blog post number 556

Wolf Creek. It’s a 2005 Australian film. And one of the most spine-chilling films I’ve ever seen. So much so that when I watched the DVD – in March 2007 – I could only do it during daylight hours. I usually watch DVDs at night. But Wolf Creek was too scary for that. Much too scary. Not only that, but I couldn’t watch it straight through. I had to do it in a paced manner, i.e. in short bursts. Sweetheart Vivienne’s interview on ABC Radio National’s Life Matters yesterday morning wasn’t scary. At least it wasn’t scary for me streaming it to my laptop computer in my Mole Creek office. Yet I couldn’t sit calmly to hear all 16 minutes of it. I sat. I stood. I wandered around the room. I sat some more. And so on. I don’t know why. Sure I was emotional. I was teary for a good half of it. Partly because my darling beloved came across just right (she’s excellent interview talent). Partly because of the subject matter. And partly because I know, at least I think I do, what it means to her to be a published writer interviewed on national radio. If you haven’t heard the interview yet, you can access it here. Or here. I don’t know if they’ll make a movie of Alzheimers: a Love Story. But if they do, I’ll tell you now I won’t be able to watch it straight through. Though I may be able to watch it at night.