Bitter Seeds

Eco documentary. Directed by Micha Peled. (Not rated. 88 minutes.)

"Bitter Seeds," a poignant and insightful look into the human suffering caused by agricultural bioengineering, features an unlikely but appealing protagonist to tell its story about a global phenomenon.

Manjusha Amberwar is 18 years old and lives in central India, the site of a shocking wave of suicides, including her father's. She wants to be a journalist (against all odds for a village girl) and begins to investigate the reasons behind the crisis for the local newspaper.

Her journey, and that of her relatives, is the thread of a well-told story about how the U.S.-based Monsanto Co. persuaded often illiterate farmers to use its genetically altered (and more expensive) seeds, instead of relying on the conventional (and effective) ones that villagers had used for eons.

Unfortunately, the kind of seeds that may work for massive agricultural companies do not always work for small family farms, which don't have the resources to provide the necessary irrigation, fertilizer and pesticides to make their seed investment pay off. Farmers often go bankrupt and lose their land - a big problem in a world where 50 percent of the people are farmers, and where the use of genetically modified seeds is becoming more widespread.

This film doesn't provide a lot of bars or charts or fancy graphics. Just cue cards to give us perspective. And surprisingly beautifully shot scenes of an intimate family drama that takes place over a season of growing cotton. From time to time, Monsanto officials (straight out of central casting) appear, and you can almost see their noses growing as they rationalize the suicides and extol the virtues of their (very profitable) seeds.

One of my favorite things about the movie is that director Micha Peled (who also helmed "China Blue" and "Store Wars: When Walmart Comes to Town") does not resort to doomsday talk or hysterics. This is not a dreary film: Underneath it all is a strong sense of humanity.

Continued here:
Review: 'Bitter Seeds' of farmer suicides