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by Kurt Langbein and Andrea Ernst
grade: 6.5
Anders essen – Das Experiment, aims for extreme clarity in order to make us understand the consequences of our ‘irresponsible’ feeding. Thus, starting from the premise that we need a field of about 4400 square metres for our daily food, if everyone on earth ate as we do, we would need a whole other planet in order to limit as much as possible our impact on the environment. Yet, something can be done.
New ways of approaching food
How can our bad eating habits influence our earth in the long run? Or, better still, how can we do something good for ourselves and the world we live in without necessarily changing our lives? The extreme urgency of safeguarding our planet and all that nature has to offer us has been talked about often for some years now. And, in this regard, the documentary Anders essen – Das Experiment – directed in 2019 by directors Kurt Langbein and Andrea Ernst and presented for the first time in Italy as part of the festival Sotto le Stelle dell’Austria 2020 – is part of a long series of documentaries intended, at last, to ‘open the eyes’ of the audience and encourage them to take active action before it’ s too late.
Anders essen – Das Experiment, aims, then, at extreme clarity, in order to make us understand the consequences of our ‘irresponsible’ eating. Thus, starting from the premise that we need a field of about 4400 square metres for our daily food, if everyone on earth ate as we do, we would need a whole other planet in order to limit as much as possible our impact on the environment. Yet, something can be done.
And in order to prove this, three families from different corners of the world – one from Austria, one from France and another from South Korea – were involved in an experiment during which they all changed somewhat their eating habits, limiting their meat consumption, favouring home-grown products and opting much more often for raw food. The positive influences on the environment and climate will be quite surprising.
It is not easy, in the age of globalisation and, above all, in the age of fast food, precooked food and excessive work that prevents us from devoting the necessary time to food preparation and care, to adopt certain habits. Yet, more and more often, the ‘return to nature’ and a healthier and certainly more satisfying life becomes a lifestyle choice for many people. Just think of the excellent documentary The Biggest Little Farm – made in 2018 by John Chester and with similar aims to Anders essen – Das Experiment.
Yet, in terms of a directorial approach, if Chester’s work stood out not only for its subject matter, but also for its sophisticated and elegant mise en scène, we cannot fail to notice that this documentary by Kurt Langbein and Andrea Ernst, on the other hand, is, on the whole, much more elementary and television-oriented.
Everything is explained absolutely clearly in Anders essen – Das Experiment. Just as, in fact, an agricultural engineer does with a group of students visiting a farm. And while this kind of mise en scène is particularly effective when it comes to communicating a certain theory to the audience, the whole film is, at times, overly didactic. Not too bad, however. Because, in fact, the message comes through. And it comes through loud and clear. And the two directors, for their part, knew what to focus on. All this makes for an altogether enjoyable documentary that, without too many pretensions, knows exactly where it is getting at.
Original title: Anders essen – Das Experiment
Directed by: Kurt Langbein, Andrea Ernst
Country/year: Austria / 2020
Running time: 84’
Genre: documentary
Screenplay: Kurt Langbein, Andrea Ernst
Cinematography: Christian Roth
Produced by: Langbein & Partner Media, ORF