A bowl of milk with cereal letters showing the names of the filmmakers opens this documentary about milk. It begins with the filmmaker Sebastian Howard describing milk how it was seen in his early days, a perfect food that can satisfy both thirst and hunger at the same time, and apparently everyone agreed it was good for us. But is it? That seems to be the premise of this documentary. The filmmaker then goes to the streets, asking some "ordinary" folks about their opinions of milk. Most people seem to be brainwashed to believe that milk is a super food! A wholesome food that is vital for our bone health! This part also contain the most stupid (and probably the funniest) comment in this documentary, "what else are you going to drink if you're not drinking milk?" - Random dude on the street.
A bunch of farmers are interviewed. They spit out claims about studies showing how wonderful milk is. I would think twice about trusting any person saying that his/her product is healthy for you. I especially like a quote from one of the farmers, saying that dairy products are great nutritious foods but also admits that he may be biased because he actually does work with dairy production. I concur. There are however several so called experts being interviewed. Some of them are convinced that milk is great food, some are sure that it is quite the opposite, deadly poison. I personally think in the question if milk is healthy for you or not is answered in one quote from the film, "in many of these controversies the truth is always somewhere in the middle".
There are two people I really dislike. One of them is Robert Cohen, writer of the book "Milk: The deadly Poison". This anti-milk guy wearing various pro-vegan/vegetarian shirts pop-up now and then with the most ludicrous remarks that almost makes me want to run to the closest supermarket and devour some milk. The other one is Michael Schmidt, a raw milk producer, he describes milk as liquid love, seeing milk as something not only healthy, but even holy or religious full of love. If milk is liquid love, then sperm or vaginal juice must be the healthiest most loving liquid ever! Where can I buy a bottle!? While Robert gives vegans a bad rep, this guy makes me wanna quit consuming dairy products altogether. I guess the filmmaker chose to have these two gentlemen in his documentary to show that there are stupid people on both sides.
I really liked the montages in the film, short clips with just one statement from everyone being interviewed contradicting each other with dramatic background music. The last montage ends with a glass being filled with milk, eventually pouring over. This could represent the feeling of all the contradicting statements going over our heads. A good way to show how controversial the belief of milk really is.
This documentary is OK, not very good, nor really bad. It is very unbiased, which I think is nice and refreshing considering that most documentaries usually are extremely one-sided. Because of that the documentary may however make you feel even more confused about milk than you were before the film, just like the filmmaker himself seems to be in the end. I did miss some more animations with stats from studies. And there might have been too many interviews with farmers, considering that we are mostly talking about if it is healthy for us or not. But definitely worth the watch if the controversy of milk interest you.
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