Will we vegan to see the truth?
I’ll be reviewing this documentary film in two ways. The first half of the review will discuss the quality and entertainment, while the second half delves deeper into my thoughts on the topics it discusses.
What the Health is a documentary about Veganism. It was directed by Kip Anderson and Keegan Kuhn, both of which are vegans and environmentalists. The film covers a wide variety of topics including meat consumption, animal products, medical practice, drugs, wrongful imprisonment, and even government conspiracy.
It had its cheesy moments.
Despite the topics being primarily about serious health issues, Kip Anderson manages to provide comedic relief throughout the film using sarcasm. Kip’s attitude and comments were what made this film entertaining to watch. If not for his acting the film would have been rather dull and purely educational.
My immediate impressions of the documentary were very positive. I liked the lighting, camera angles, and overall way in which it was shot. I didn’t care for sections with doctors and medical experts talking directly to the screen as much, but it would be hard to back up your documentary without them.
Let’s pig a little deeper.
The film starts with Kip attempting to get in touch with various government food organizations. Despite his best efforts, he constantly finds himself being turned down for interviews. On the rare occasions that he does get an interview it never goes as planned. Kip makes sure to slam the organizations for not wanting to talk to him, but it should really come as no surprise. Government Organizations do not want to talk to environmentalists or “health nuts”. Now I realize that he probably knows this, and that these interviews were set up just to reinforce his point. He was setting the stage for his future arguments concerning ties between the government, medical institutions, wealthy organizations.
Cow it all ties together?
The ideas and theories presented in the film come together to reveal some surprising and scary truths. Kip points out that the American Cancer Society recommends meal plans that directly cause cancer. He then shows that several other institutions like the American Heart Association also recommend foods that cause the very problem they are “attempting” to prevent. Why would they do this?
Kip reveals that these organizations are funded by the food industry. Large companies such as Kraft and Tyson donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to “support” these disease fighting organizations. We are then shown through various interviews and studies that these government organizations care more about treating the symptoms than they do about curing the diseases.
Our next stop is the medical industry. It turns out that the medical industry is run the same way. Pharmaceutical companies are responsible for training medical practitioners. Pharmaceutical companies teach doctors, doctors teach the general population, and in the end everyone ends up taking drugs for the rest of their lives.
What the Health also covers a few other topics. It discusses the harsh treatment of animals, the poor living conditions for humans living near farms and factories, and the effects that we have on the environment.
Now the film goes a lot deeper than I am going to go in this review. Otherwards you could just read my review and not watch it, also I just don’t have that much spare time, but you get the point. Don’t eat animal products, don’t do drugs, stay in school, and care for the Earth.
Cure the Earth, not your meat.
I really enjoyed watching this documentary. I learned a lot about food, drugs, health, and the industries that control the information surrounding them. Will I go vegan? I’m currently on a plant based diet and will be writing a future article on my personal experiences soon. I recommend this movie to anyone curious about why people turn vegan. You can watch this film in it’s entirety for free on Netflix.
Starring: Kip Anderson; Keegan Kuhn
Rated: N/A
Release Date: March 7, 2017
HFR Rating:
To learn about why Sea World is evil click here -> Save the Whales
