Find yourself staring at the home screen of Netflix more often than you watch movies or shows? Well have no fear, you are not alone! The diverse and plentiful collection of visual media can be overwhelming! Psychologists have shown that when people are offered more than seven choices, the individual as a marked increase in difficulty making a choice. These options are not only big deals in building awareness about problems but very entertaining. Educate yourself while passing away an afternoon!
Hungry For Change
Revealing the truth behind the diet, weight loss and health food industry, this film reveals the trap set by corporation and marketing teams to keep you in a vicious cycle. Few of the plans and products are in earnest pursuit of health or fitness. Hungry For Change will show you the way to the body you deserve.
Fed UP
Everything about the last three decades of food and exercise is a lie, that director Stephanie Soechtig ( Oscar winner of An Inconvenient Truth) uncovers. This film focuses on the lack of healthy practices and products found in today’s ‘health crazed’ society. It also covers the lack of oversight in the products people use to lose weight. The body reacts to many of these as it would a poison or steroid.
Tiny
The idea of home is a constantly shifting term as social pressures change and terms of ‘wealth’ flux. This film showcases a couple building a small house from scratch. Diverting from the couple periodically we get to see families that have successfully downsized their homes to be able to fit inside an average parking space. This film raises questions about what good design could mean, the nature of an home in the 21st century and how it all relates to the American dream.
Cosmos
A reboot of Carl Sagan’s award winning and iconic Cosmos, this one takes my vote as my favorite. This docu-series takes viewers through out the universe exploring scientific theories in fantastic detail. It’s like Planet Earth for the stars. Science buffs and those not scientifically inclined will enjoy this series. All the information is clearly explained in very simple layman’s terms by famed astrophysicist Neil Degrasse Tyson. Tyson’s unique insight makes him a prime guide to revealing our universe’s mysteries. The creative collaborator for the original Cosmos, Ann Druyan, is an executive director. Seth McFarland is also an executive producer which marks an interesting break from his accustomed work.
Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead
Joe Cross suffers from a rare auto immune deficiency, and the treatment looks like a collage of steroids that only help in short term and the cost of his health. Years after his diagnosis Joe looks up from his heavy regiment of pills to see he has turned into a 310 pound depressed version of himself. He starts exercising and looking for applicable replacements to the pills. This documentary is part road trip, part self help as Joe travels the country talking to people about nutrition. Along the way he meets people in similar situations. The film showcases how these people take back their lives.
Forks Over Knives
This film has a profound claim with far reaching implications. Most if not all degenerative disease can be controlled if not stopped. Focusing on you are what you eat, the move away from meat based and processed foods could save lives. The protagonists in this journey are pioneering researchers: Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn.
Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret
Follow director Kip Anderson as he travels to uncover secrets of one of the most ecologically damaging indurties of today. A very comprehensive film that covers everything to GMO’s, malpractice in farming and processing of food, to the implications and why world leaders are afraid to address these problems head on.
In Plane Sight
This 2004 documentary focuses on ‘conspiracy’ theories surrounding the 9/11 attacks. Thoroughly dissecting available information (eye witnesses, photographs government reports and scientific research), this films points out holes in the ‘official’ story.
Pump
If you aren’t aware of the extent of America’s fuel addiction or how we got to this point in history as famed codependents this film is for you. This film provided eye opening information about the politics, monopolies and various illegal tactics that control the oil industry. The film finishes saying how to end this vicious cycle with some very plausible ideas.
The Human Experiment
Be careful when you watch this one. If your anything like me, I got very upset over the cruelty of corporations and the ignorance that allows them to negatively effect us. Award winning writers and journalists Sean Penn, Dana Nachman and Don Hardy reveal not only the thousands of mystery chemicals found in common everyday products but shed light on the connection to the hundreds of diseases plaguing the average person. Follow the ins and outs of researchers trying to find answers and activists trying to make a difference to the people who have fallen ill.
Zeitgeist
This documentary is an eye opener for anyone watching it. Confronting widely agreed upon social constructs; religion , the 9/11 attacks, and the financial system. A well thought out film, it provides new view points on life’s general truths. Everyone can walk away from this experience with new information.