The Game Changers (2018)
June 14, 2020 5:13 PM - Subscribe
A UFC fighter's world is turned upside down when he discovers an elite group of world-renowned athletes and scientists who prove that everything he had been taught about protein was a lie.
Vogue: There is Dotsie Bausch, a seven-time U.S. national cycling champion who, at 39, was the oldest cyclist to ever qualify for the Olympics, not to mention return home with a silver medal. There is Patrik Baboumian, the former Germany’s Strongest Man who holds multiple world records, including lifting a staggering 1,213 pounds over his head. There is one of the greatest ultramarathoners of all time, Scott Jurek, who ran the Appalachian trail in 46 days, eight hours, and seven minutes—three hours faster than anyone else at the time, and months shorter than the average hiker. There are Roman gladiators, gorillas, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, all of whom have two things in common: superpower strength, and a plant-based diet.
Variety: Supported by swift, nifty graphics, the science part is bright and well-presented, if a bit repetitive; there’s little tension even between varying schools of plant-based eating in the film’s dissertation. More discussion of the comparative benefits of vegetarianism versus veganism, for example, might be of interest to the novices Wilks and Psihoyos are seeking to engage; it’s left to Bausch, meanwhile, to make the sensible point that changing one’s diet for the greener needn’t be an all-or-nothing proposition. A late interlude on the adverse environmental effects of livestock farming won’t be revelatory even to many steak-eaters in the audience, but if “The Game Changers” is out to chasten the most stubbornly vegetable-opposed, it has all its bases covered.
Ultimately, this is documentary advocacy of the fighting-fire-with-fire variety. Wilks calls out carnivorous corporations like McDonald’s for perpetuating the myth in their own marketing that meat makes you more of a man, while claiming that very line of argument for itself: Once we get to the comparative monitoring of multiple sportsmen’s nocturnal erections before and after dropping meat from the menu, it’s a wonder “The Game Changers” doesn’t come right out and say, “Veganism makes you hard, in more ways than one.” That’s implicit, and if a few more guys start eating their greens as a result, this blunt but belief-fueled film will have done its job.
This New Documentary Says Meat Will Kill You. Here's Why It's Wrong.
Trailer
Streaming on Netflix
Vogue: There is Dotsie Bausch, a seven-time U.S. national cycling champion who, at 39, was the oldest cyclist to ever qualify for the Olympics, not to mention return home with a silver medal. There is Patrik Baboumian, the former Germany’s Strongest Man who holds multiple world records, including lifting a staggering 1,213 pounds over his head. There is one of the greatest ultramarathoners of all time, Scott Jurek, who ran the Appalachian trail in 46 days, eight hours, and seven minutes—three hours faster than anyone else at the time, and months shorter than the average hiker. There are Roman gladiators, gorillas, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, all of whom have two things in common: superpower strength, and a plant-based diet.
Variety: Supported by swift, nifty graphics, the science part is bright and well-presented, if a bit repetitive; there’s little tension even between varying schools of plant-based eating in the film’s dissertation. More discussion of the comparative benefits of vegetarianism versus veganism, for example, might be of interest to the novices Wilks and Psihoyos are seeking to engage; it’s left to Bausch, meanwhile, to make the sensible point that changing one’s diet for the greener needn’t be an all-or-nothing proposition. A late interlude on the adverse environmental effects of livestock farming won’t be revelatory even to many steak-eaters in the audience, but if “The Game Changers” is out to chasten the most stubbornly vegetable-opposed, it has all its bases covered.
Ultimately, this is documentary advocacy of the fighting-fire-with-fire variety. Wilks calls out carnivorous corporations like McDonald’s for perpetuating the myth in their own marketing that meat makes you more of a man, while claiming that very line of argument for itself: Once we get to the comparative monitoring of multiple sportsmen’s nocturnal erections before and after dropping meat from the menu, it’s a wonder “The Game Changers” doesn’t come right out and say, “Veganism makes you hard, in more ways than one.” That’s implicit, and if a few more guys start eating their greens as a result, this blunt but belief-fueled film will have done its job.
This New Documentary Says Meat Will Kill You. Here's Why It's Wrong.
Trailer
Streaming on Netflix
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posted by jonathanhughes at 5:43 AM on June 15, 2020