GMO OMG (2013) |
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GMO OMG (2013) |
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| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Documentary |
More…-Additional Interviews Short Film-Animated Short Film "The Scarecrow" Featurette-Super Bugs Featurette-What is GMO Featurette-Goggles Galore Trailer-+ 30 Accent releases |
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| Year Of Production | 2013 | ||
| Running Time | 81:38 (Case: 85) | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | Dual Layered | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Ads Then Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 1,2,3,4,5,6 | Directed By | Jeremy Seifert |
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Studio
Distributor |
Accent Film Entertainment | Starring | Jeremy Seifert |
| Case | Amaray-Transparent | ||
| RPI | ? | Music |
Cameron Fraser Jubilee Singers |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) | |
| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles | None | Smoking | No |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
When Jeremy Seifert had children he started to wonder what was in the food he was feeding them. Certain additives are on the label in the US, but genetically modified organisms (GMO) are not. It seems that over 80% of corn and soy grown in the US is genetically modified and these are found in most processed foods such as ice cream; they are also used for stock feed, and thus affect the meat we eat. In GMO OMG Seifert asks what are GMOs and are they harmful, or beneficial?
Farmers for centuries have used pesticides and herbicides to kill insects and weeds that impact upon their crops. The result is that there now exist superbugs and superweeds, resistant to the poisons. The next step was GMOs which fall into two main categories: plants that are modified to produce pesticide, thus killing bugs, and herbicide resisters, plants that are tolerant to poisons such as “Roundup” allowing it to be sprayed on and around them, killing the weeds but leaving the plants. The seeds for the GMOs have been developed and patented by giant chemical companies, including Monsanto, DuPont and Syngenta, and the industry is worth billions of dollars.
Seifert takes to the road, often accompanied by his wife and three children, looks at crops and talks to a wide range of individuals including politicians, farmers, seed suppliers and scientists about the benefits and perils of GMO crops. It transpires that research on the long term effects of GMOs has been scanty at best with negative studies being quickly attacked although the chemical companies have not released their own data about the safety of the GMOs and they have also spent millions of dollars opposing labelling laws. Seifert does not engage in a polemic against the conglomerates; the footage of his children happily tucking into ice cream, and saying it tastes wonderful even though he tells them it contains GMO material, is cute and funny. Seifert also does try to get interviews with the GMO producers without success and is asked to leave one of Monsanto’s offices. In the end he cannot say what the impact upon human health and the environment will be, and whether it will be positive or harmful as the scientific data is not available, but Seifert is adamant that the products should be labelled so that people can make a choice about what they are eating.
GMO OMG is informative and entertaining. Seifert’s children, especially his older son 6 year old Finn, are natural performers, and Seifert is an engaging personality who does have conversations with farmers who are both for and against the use of GMO seed. The documentary is perhaps as balanced as he can make it, and timely. For, as someone comments in the documentary, if the data shows that GMO crops are not harmful, why don’t the chemical companies make it public? Instead the conglomerates use their political connections, and money, to stifle comment and by not releasing their data it looks as if they have something to hide.
Australia and NZ have GMO labelling legislation in place, but just how effective it is has been questioned as many genetically modified organisms escape labelling. For more on this visit this website here.
GMO OMG is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, the original ratio being 1.85:1, and is 16x9 enhanced.
The documentary consists of footage of Seifert travelling around looking at the crops and farmlands and talking to people, plus some drawings and cartoons. All footage has good detail with nice natural colours. Blacks and shadow detail are fine, brightness and contrast consistent. There is some aliasing on blinds and ghosting with movement against mottled backgrounds such as trees but otherwise marks and artefacts are absent.
There are no subtitles, although white subtitles came on for the non-English interviews.
The layer change was not noticeable.
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Audio is English Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps.
This documentary features only narration, interviews and music without effects. The narration and interviews are clear and easy to understand, the rears added only music. The sub-woofer added bass to the music.
The score was by Cameron Fraser, plus a number of added songs by the Jubilee Singers, was effective.
Lip synchronisation was not an issue.
The audio was fine.
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On start-up there were trailers for Forks Over Knives, Forks Over Knives: The Extended Interviews, The Living Matrix, 1 a Minute and Countdown to Zero that collectively run 13:38. A total of 30 trailers for Accent Film Entertainment releases can also be selected from the menu - most of the start-up trailers are repeated and there is a trailer for OMG GMO included. There is a “play all” option.
Interviews that did not make the final film. Some are quite interesting:
A short film about “all natural” product and automation!
An animated section taken straight from the film about pesticides creating super bugs and pesticide resistant plants.
Another animated section taken straight from the film about what GMO means.
Jeremy Seifert tries out various “special” GMO spotting goggles on his children.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The Region A US Blu-ray of GMO OMG seems to have mostly the same extras, although arranged differently. I cannot find a review or listing of extras for the Region 1 US DVD, but I imagine it would not contain anything different to the Blu-ray. Buy local.
Seifert is an engaging personality who has conversations with farmers who are both for and against the use of GMO seed. GMO OMG is informative and entertaining and the documentary is a timely reminder of what is happening within the food we eat.
The video and audio are fine. The extras are interesting, but not extensive.
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Sony BDP-S580, using HDMI output |
| Display | LG 55inch HD LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p. |
| Audio Decoder | NAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated. |
| Amplification | NAD T737 |
| Speakers | Studio Acoustics 5.1 |