Why So Blu?

Fed Up (Blu-ray Review)

The Katie Couric-produced and narrated documentary, Fed Up premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.  Later, it found release in theaters back in May during summer movie season.  No, it didn’t finish in the Top 10 of summer films.  It was widely praised by critics, with one even calling it the “Inconvenient Truth of the health movement”.  The Weinstein Company bought the rights to it and are now bringing it to Blu-ray where hopefully more people will be able to become informed of what it has to offer.  If you are interested in learning more about this hidden cause to obesity in America and some of what you can do to improve your health to prevent it, you can use the Amazon link to pre-order the film.

Film 

Fed Up is a documentary focused on the obesity epidemic in the United States.  Its research has shown it isn’t so much caloric intake, its the large quantities of sugar found in processed foods.  Produced and narrated by Katie Couric, the film takes us on a history of the United States’ dietary guidelines, interviews with professionals and follows the lives of three young kids struggling with obesity.

I actually found this documentary incredibly informative and pretty effective.  There’s a lot of good to be learned here from this piece on the dangers of so much sugar.  I’m one who is a person that stands by the individual being responsible for their choices, actions and consequences in life, but this documentary put in a way that made me see that how exactly difficult that can be.  Now, I’m not dropping my mantra, but I do feel when it comes to our food and eating, I now have a sort of sympathy and see how exactly tough the industry and government have made it.

Seeing some of the youth in this film brings some sadness into the fold.  One girl is trying so hard, is incredibly active, but can’t manage to find any results no matter how hard she works.  Another kid has to result to a surgery mainly reserved for adults over the age of 40, and you have to spend time with his parents struggling through it.  Another kid seems to have a sign of hope, but winds up undoing all the good he does to his body.  The documentary isn’t at all hopeless, but it does show just how far one needs to go.

If I have one beef with the film, its that it really offers no solution.  For a film that has done great research, digging for truths and uncovering secrets, it doesn’t really offer any sort of suggestion as to what you can personally do about it.  It complains and brings so much argument against, but only brushes over what can be done to fix it.  And really doesn’t give to much as to what you can do as an individual.  Basically their offering is “Tell your government to fix it”.  Even if there is no solution, bringing the problem to the forefront like this is an achievement in itself.

Video 

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Clarity/Detail:  This is a documentary containing video from many different sources from many different eras.  The quality ranges with these.  Some video clips appear to be taken from YouTube or other streams as they appear very blocky in high definition.  The main portion of new video in this documentary is top notch and very detailed however, and that’s what I think counts the most.

Depth: Solid, about average.  Some good overarching city shots provide some 3 dimensional like luster.

Black Levels:  Blacks are rich and inky.  This isn’t an expertly lit cinematic production, so in some darker situations, details are hidden in the shadows, but it is what it is.

Color Reproduction:  Colors are bold and pop right off the screen.  Well saturated and features a nice palette.

Flesh Tones: Flesh tones are lifelike and highly detailed.  Subjects of the program show all wrinkles, blemishes, acne and all sorts of facial deficiencies.   I’m not sure a lot of them wore makeup.

Noise/Artifacts:  None

Audio 

Audio Format(s):  English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, Spanish 5.1 DTS-HD MA (Narration Only)

Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish

Dynamics:  Like the video, there’s a mixture of different sources for the audio.  For the most part is clean and as good as its source.  If its an old 50s TV commercial its going to sound like an old 50s TV commercial.  If its Katie Couric’s narration, its going to sound pristine.  Overall, its quite great.

Low Frequency Extension:  Sound effects for animations are enhanced as well as some songs, but this really is focused on people talking.

Surround Sound Presentation: Not much aside from score and some ambiance.

Dialogue Reproduction:  Dialogue is clean, clear and front heavy.  Everyone’s vocals are everpresent and healthy.

Extras 

If you look at the back of the case, they’ll want you to believe the Spanish narration is a bonus feature, but we all know that’s just not true.

One Year Subscription To Eating Well Magazine – Amounts to 6 issues.

Deleted Scenes (HD, 12:46)

Summary 

Fed Up is definitely a documentary I think a lot of this country needs to see.  Especially if you’re someone overweight and obese that “tried everything” and still can’t shed those pounds or get to an ideal level of normal health.  It’ll open your eyes and educate you.  This Blu-ray comes with a couple extra minutes to add to the documentary, as well as a great audio and video transfer.  Definitely rent or buy this one!