No, Eating You Alive, is not a horror film about cannibalism nor is it about a flesh-eating parasite, but it can be seen as somewhat of a horror film about the lack of nutrition in America. Director Paul David Kennamer Jr. gets into the science of what makes plant-based whole foods so healthy while meat products and processed foods harm your health. Rooted in Peace essentially combines the docs Food, Inc., Supersize Me, That Sugar Film, Fast Food Nation and The C Word into one film. Allopathic doctors don't have a financial incentive to keep you healthy; they're in the business of disease treatment, so if you don't have a disease, how would they make any money? Essentially, they're prostitutes for their pimp, Big Pharma. Who's behind the textbooks in medical school? You guessed it: Big Pharma. It's no wonder that doctors receive virtually no education on nutrition. As one expert wisely put it, if you step on a nail, would it make more sense to drug yourself up with painkillers or to remove that nail? Doctors provide you with drugs to treat a disease without using nutrition to prevent it. Did you know that even seemingly healthier oils like olive oil aren't that good for your nutrition? Olive oil, after all, is processed. Did you know that you don't need to get your protein from animals because protein can be found in plants? Penn Jillette, interviewees, makes a valid and bold point: if you put a bucket of movie popcorn in front of someone and they're disgusted by its smell, then they're probably healthy. If they love the smell, though, send them directly to the hospital. Although Eating You Alive is a little too long at a running time of 112 minutes, it's filled with useful and essential information that could inspire you to become a vegetarian or vegan and to steer clear of any food product that has more than a few ingredients in its label. On a related note, please click here to read my article about the cover-up of hidden MSG and its potentially harmful health effects. Garden Fresh Media opens Eating You Alive at IFC Center on Wednesday, December 14th. The doc Rooted in Peace goes even further than just advocating nutrition: it highlights the importance of finding peace within your mind and body while living in these very violent times. The cycle of violence around the world can be stopped one person at a time. "Violence" isn't just referring to how human beings kill one another, but also how human being kill animals and nature. It doesn't help that pop culture glorifies violence through video games and movies while making too many people desensitized to it. Director Greg Reitman travels around the world to ask experts what could be done to find peace within oneself and to make the world a better place. Interviews with Deepak Chopra, Desmond Tutu, Ted Turner, Pete Seeger and even David Lynch add a lot of provocative perspectives. Reitman learns about the healing power of meditation. Fixating on happy thoughts helps to relax one's heart and mind----it's interesting to observe how the heart actually controls the brain sometimes instead of the brain always controlling the heart. Rooted in Peace does jump from one complex topic to another, i.e. war, deforestation, carbon pollution, and malnutrition, among others, which might make it seem like it's biting more than it could chew initially, but Reitman does a great job of tying it all together at the end. The film's most powerful message is that we're all connected to not only each other but to nature as well. Without trees, we wouldn't exist. We are the tree and the tree is us, so-to-speak. Everything you do--even by clearing your mind through yoga/meditation--can have a positive effect on the world around you even if it's merely a small effect. The best outcome for man and nature is when they're both working symbiotically, so understanding that concept is a crucial step in achieving any kind of peace. Thank you, Greg Reitman, for sharing all of these hopeful messages with younger generations who will someday pass their attained wisdom to the next generation. Consider it your duty as a human being to see Rooted in Peace for the sake of mankind's future. This potent and enlightening documentary alone may not change the world, but it can change the way you think about at the world and the symbiosis of man and nature. It's also worth mentioning the well-chosen soundtrack, especially the song "Yellow" by Coldplay. Blue Water Entertainment opens Rooted in Peace at Cinema Village. Over at Film Forum, there's the doc Ghostland: The View of the Ju/'hoansi about the Ju/'hoansi Bushmen of Namibia. The word "ghost" in the title comes from what one of the Ju/'hoansi refers to as the first thoughts they had when they saw white people visiting them during a Safari for the first time. Four of the bushmen experience a huge culture shock when they briefly travel to Europe. Director Simon Stadler uses a mostly laissez faire approach to documentary filmmaking by merely letting the camera observe the Ju/'hoansi, with the exceptions of a few scattered interviews with them. The film's structure is pretty standard: the first part shows the Ju/'hoansi's daily practices in Namibia, the second part shows how they struggle to assimiliate overseas in Europe, and the third part is their return to Namibia. That third part could have been mined for some insight, but it's too ephemeral. One of the Bushmen's comments about how Europeans seem so tired, stressed and overworked compared to the Ju/'hoansi touches upon an provocative theme that Stadler fails to explore further. Ghostland manages to be mildly engaging, but it's not nearly as powerful or illuminating as Lost Boys of Sudan. It would make for an interesting double feature with The Gods Must Be Crazy.

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Collateral Beauty
Directed by David Frankel