Great news: the Australian documentary “That Sugar Film”, about which we have already written, made it to the Russian distribution. In Australia, by the way, the film became a real blockbuster, collecting more than 1.5 million local dollars (i.e., slightly more than 1.1 million USD), which is an absolutely outstanding result for a non-fiction film. This, of course, can be explained by the popularity of Damon Gamo, who is both the director and the main character in the film - in Australia he is a big national star. But even if the name of the director is still completely unfamiliar to you, it is nevertheless worth going to the movies.
In the center of the plot is a 60-day experiment that Gamot puts on himself: what will happen if during this time, like a typical Australian, he will eat 40 teaspoons of sugar a day. At the same time, before that, the director adhered to quite reasonable principles of nutrition (quite close to O Keto) and had not eaten products containing sugar for 3 years. Ok, the fact that nothing good for the director's health will come of this experiment is not difficult to guess, so there is no need to wait for unpredictable plot twists in this case. And the trick used by Gamo is also not new: back in 2004, American director Morgan Spurlock performed a similar self-destructive experiment - for a month he ate exclusively at McDonald's, and every time he was offered to take a "super portion" of what - he agreed to any product. As you might expect, the director's health was severely damaged, but his film Super Size Me ("Double portion") became a hit worldwide.
Formally, Damon Gamo follows the method invented by Spurlock pretty closely: in the same way, he undergoes a detailed physical examination before and after the experiment and documents in detail the process of weight gain and deterioration in health indicators. And, of course, the director does not close on himself, but actively moves around the world - from Australia to the United States and back - and meets various interesting characters in one way or another connected with the problem of excessive sugar consumption. But there is also a significant difference: while Morgan Spurlock attacked the obvious evil that is the international symbol of junk food (especially for McDuck lawyers: this is a widespread value judgment, the truth of which I can not guarantee), Damon Gamo complicates his task while making it more interesting and educational. He does not eat sugar with spoons, does not drink sweet soda, does not overuse desserts - all this would be too simple and self-evident. Gamo gets its 40 spoons of sugar without going into a sugar bowl or visiting pastry shops, but exclusively from food traditionally considered “healthy” and “wholesome”: cereals and muesli, juices and smoothies, whole grain bars, canned beans, salad dressings, and of course the same low fat fruit yoghurt. The latter are my personal favorite, as in terms of the gap between the real qualities of the product and the useful properties attributed to it, they are unmatched. You probably know girls who carefully monitor their figure and snack on some blueberry “Activia”, or “light miracle cottage cheese” with zero fat content, without thinking too much that each such snack means taking 6-8 tablespoons of sugar.
The changes taking place in the course of the film with Damon Gamon are quite predictable (especially for regular readers of our site): excess weight, a clearly noticeable "belly" and fat deposits on the sides, fatty liver, acne on the face, deterioration of the lipid profile, prediabetes and an increased risk of cardiovascular vascular diseases. But there is another aspect, perhaps not so well measurable, but no less frightening: constant mood swings, difficulty concentrating, memory and cognitive impairment, almost drug addiction. It seems that the brain suffers from excess sugar even more than all other organs - and this despite the popular myth that it is sugar that is necessary for brain nutrition.
As is usually the case with nutritional films, the film is full of experts. But the authors manage to get away from the usual aesthetics of "talking heads" and fit interviews with experts in the most unexpected locations: a talking head can appear on a pack of breakfast cereals and on a bottle of freshly squeezed juice. on the very “useful” products that the director mercilessly feeds himself with. Although, the total calorie content of his diet does not change much from this - he makes sure that there are no more than 2,300 calories, which made up his daily requirement before filming. And he does not change the volume of physical activity. But, as we can see, this does not help him much.
So is it worth watching this film for those who are already well versed in all these issues? In my opinion, and preferably on the big screen. Firstly, because the picture is made extremely bright, witty and inventive, with an excellent soundtrack (Depeche Mode is more appropriate here than ever) and many unexpected special effects - all this gives an absolute pleasure when watching. The director even managed to attract a couple of world-class celebrities to the film - Hugh Jackman and Stephen Fry. They, of course, look like a bit alien elements in “Sahara”, but they play their roles perfectly. In addition, there are many facts that even for me were quite little known - the best, in my opinion, fragments of the film tells about what modern food does to the indigenous people of Australia, or what happens to teenagers in a small American town, totally "addicted" at Mountain Dew.
But the main reason why I really want to recommend watching "Sahara" is that cinema, as a visual art, can turn out to be much more convincing than the printed word. Therefore, take your friends, relatives, colleagues with you to watch - for most of them what they see in the film will be a great revelation. And be sure to show the film to your teenage children, it may be most useful for them, if only by telling you how to get rid of acne, which worries them much more than the lipid profile and liver conditions. However, the picture will be no less useful for grandmothers and grandfathers - after all, sugar does not spare anyone, regardless of age.
PS. In Sweden, “Sugar” aired on national television during the evening prime time. It is a pity that it is difficult to count on this in Russia, but to our Swedish readers (and we have not so few of them), I want to inform you that the film is available for free online viewing through SVT Play.
