Super Size Me

Have I got something

in my teeth?

I braved a McDonald's sundae (in violation of a three-year-old pact to boycott the company responsible for the most insidious use of Satan in marketing) right before I went to see Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me, a documentary about the aforementioned McGiant and the fast-food fattening of America (and, coincidentally, my ass).

My fudge-laden gesture was in support of a man willing to poison himself in pursuit of compelling evidence: Spurlock, a jackass for justice, spent 30 days eating nothing - and I mean nothing - but McDonald's in an attempt to understand how the US became the most overweight country in the world. Thanks to his novel approach, Super Size Me is not about pointing the finger so much as swallowing the truth.

Inspired by a law suit in which two obese teens had accused Maccas of causing their weight problem, Spurlock wanted to examine the line between self-moderation and the subtle manipulations of the junk food industry. His project, though framed by his culinary Knievel burger-thon, is actually a fairly sophisticated examination of the various factors, both under the golden arches and in the outside world, that have influenced what and how we eat. The crowd-pleasing kick of Super Size Me is Spurlock's expose of the extraordinary lengths McDonald's will go to to encourage you to consume (and convince you it won't hurt), but he's also not shy about touting the value of exercise, and criticising the school lunch system and processed food lobby. The result, which owes a huge debt to Michael Moore's practice, is a great film that acknowledges a very big, very complicated problem.

Like Moore, Spurlock knows his enemy. He is not preaching to the lentil-happy cardigan crowd at the Vegie Bar, but a consumer used to the slick colour and light display of international advertising, a consumer sugar-coated and blissed-out on those very affordable foodstuffs he is condemning. So to make an impression, Spurlock produced a fun film flush with snappy editing, a playful punk soundtrack and a healthy sense of humour. There's also that key to success in bitch-slapping us out of complacency: one hell of a huge shock factor. It's a must-see inside the McDonald's dinosaur before it dies, and I'll be darned if you don't feel like scrubbing the McFat out of your blood when it's all over.

-- By Simone Ubaldi