“The World According to Monsanto” Documentary Essay (Movie Review)

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Nowadays there exist a substantial inequality among the states in terms of economic development and access to natural resources. The World According to Monsanto, a 2008 French documentary directed by Marie-Monique Robin, tells us the story of the world’s largest transnational biochemical concern Monsanto and its audacious practices to strengthen its universal power. Having investigated more than hundred-year history of the company the author exposes the crimes of the multi-billion dollar empire of GMO and biotechnology supporters.

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Beginning its history in the early XX century as a chemical producer, Monsanto has become one of the leaders in the world of fertilizers and genetic modification of food products. Due to its enormous financial opportunities, the company promotes its products in all regions of the planet. The company has been criticized for a long time by the ecological organizations and opponents of GMOs; in 2013, 2014 and 2015 the waves of protest against the company spread across the world.

Every year in March activists gather to fight against the deadly policies of the company (“Tens of Thousands March Worldwide…” par 2.). In 2015, the company was accused of spreading the threat of cancer using glyphosate in its most popular herbicide “Roundup” (Pollack par. 3).

Apart from a thorough research, the author managed to travel to the “places of glory” of Monsanto and to interview several direct participants in the events, scientists, and officials. During the film, we find out about how and with the help of what Monsanto has poisoned the whole world over the last century. It is a normal practice for the company to hide the terrible consequences its substances bring and to manipulate the results of scientific research for that aims.

Robin shows us how Monsanto bribed senior officials in regulatory organizations around the world to push its transgenic products by any means. It turns out that people cannot believe even the US Food and Drug Administration, as Monsanto succeeded in the establishment of beneficial relations with this governmental institution. Moreover, the company had often organized persecution of scientists and officials who dared to stand in its way. GMO becomes a tool for the monopolization of the world agriculture and increase of profits without ensuring the safety of consumers and the environment (Ringler, Biswas, and Cline 36).

Monsanto is a bright example of the harm coming from privatization and monopolization in the agriculture and food industry. Schanbacher notes that while those strategies “can occasionally prove beneficial to national economies…many of these policies create increased inequality in terms of income and asset distribution, especially in transitional countries” (38). The small local producers are unable to compete with the transnational corporations and often cease to exist; local farmers are forced to exchange their crops for the price dictated by the key monopolists (Food & Water Watch par. 5).

Such tendencies are especially destructive for poor countries where the transnational companies usually place their environmentally harmful production facilities (Frye and Bruner 241). The globalization of the world economy, thus, brings benefits mainly to the rich nations and the poor ones remain the outsiders.

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In conclusion, it can be said that The World According to Monsanto is a powerful film that makes the viewer think deeply about the modern globalized world, about the food we eat, and whether justice can be restored. The film incites us to take action and fight against the oppressive lucrative multi-billion dollar empires that imagined themselves the masters of this world.

Works Cited

Food & Water Watch. n.d. . n.d. Web.

Frye, Joshua, and Michael Bruner. The Rhetoric of Food: Discourse, Materiality, and Power. New York, NY: Routledge, 2012. Print.

Pollack, Andrew. . 2015. Web.

Ringler, Claudia, Asit Biswas, and Sarah Cline. Global Change Impacts on Water and Food Security. Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag, 2010. Print.

Schanbacher, William. The Politics of Food: The Global Conflict Between Food Security and Food Sovereignty. Westport, CT: Praeger Security International, 2010. Print.

. 2015. Web.

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IvyPanda. 2020. ""The World According to Monsanto" Documentary." August 17, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-world-according-to-monsanto-documentary/.

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IvyPanda. ""The World According to Monsanto" Documentary." August 17, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-world-according-to-monsanto-documentary/.

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