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Morgan Spurlock, the director of the hot, new documentary Super Size Me, is a younger, thinner version of Michael Moore (Bowling for Columbine). Casting himself as a gadfly of the rich and powerful, specifically the fast-food giant McDonald's, Spurlock has created an entertaining persona and a humorously engaging film. His gimmick (and all gadflies need gimmicks to be effective) was to eat at McDonald's and only McDonald's for an entire month. He filmed not only his meals, and at one point his vomiting, but also his visits to his increasingly-alarmed doctors, interviews with various fast food workers and patrons, and his own feelings about his worsening health.

Spurlock himself is hilarious, and his command of documentary editing is fantastic. He mixes the aforementioned interviews with humorous animated sequences. He also makes some helpful points about how the sub-contracting of school food providers might be leading to our junk-food crisis. He even tries to set up an interview with the chairman of McDonald's (think Roger and Me) but only gets as far as a phone conversation with a corporate publicist. Apparently, those McDonald's folks have been watching Michael Moore, too.

My friend Garth found it amusing that a movie that owes so much to Michael Moore would make fun of people that look like Michael Moore. There is certainly an uncomfortable element of arrogance in Super Size Me. The movie may couch its critique of people who eat at McDonald's on the basis of health, but the reappearing shots of grossly overweight people hold those people up to ridicule. Why else would the director feel the need to blur their faces? There's no attempt at understanding why people gain so much weight or find so much comfort in food. Instead, we get Spurlock interviewing people about what a calorie is and how often they eat fast food. Those might make for entertaining answers, but they're also superficial. The clearest example is when Spurlock interviews a man having stomach reduction surgery. The surgery is filmed while the "Blue Danube" waltz plays in the background. Is this supposed to be funny? Insightful? Some weird commentary on the movie 2001?

There's also an undercurrent of class elitism. At one point, Spurlock implies that people who don't sign up at a club that provides their own trainer and nutritionist don't care about their health. That sort of thing might work for a childless couple living in Manhattan (Spurlock and his vegan girlfriend), but much of middle America doesn't have that opportunity even if they could afford it. The film ends with an intertitle claiming it took Spurlock nine months to lose the 24 pounds he gained in that one month. So I guess it's no surprise when his voice closes the film by hectoring folks to eat better...and lose some weight. Still, six weeks after this movie appeared at Sundance, McDonald's announced that it was discontinuing its Super size. Score a point for the gadfly. 

Though The Agronomist may also be a documentary about a gadfly, it is an entirely different animal. Using the traditional techniques of talking heads and live coverage of important events, Jonathan Demme creates a film that is no less absorbing and considerably more powerful. The film focuses on Jean Dominique, a Haitian radio station owner, journalist, and tireless human rights activist. Dominique was born to the thin upper crust of Haiti but turned his back on that class to advocate for the poor and landless. Exiled twice to America (in 1980 and 1991), he returned to Haiti both times to press for democracy and land reform. He was assassinated in April 2000, a deep loss for the Haitian people and the world.

The film stitches together interviews Demme did with Jean Dominique over several years. Even from that grainy footage, it is apparent how charismatic Dominique was. His excitement is infectious; when he opens wide his eyes and smiles, we can't help but smile with him. At various stages, he talks about the "risky business" of operating a free radio station in a dictatorship, and we're inspired to undertake our own risky business in search of freedom. What's particularly impressive (and appealing) about Dominique is his indefatigable optimism. But when he talks about the CIA's role in his country, we're reminded of why giving that institution too much power (even in this age of terrorism) might not be such a good thing.

The Agronomist is far from a perfect film. Demme, who has directed such movies as Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia, skips over important events and large blocks of time. Those not intimately familiar with Haiti's recent past may find it difficult to keep up. There is also a lack of context at certain points: what role have the various militias played? how has President Aristide affected the country and how has power changed him? By focusing so completely on the charismatic figure of Dominique, the documentary sometimes loses its way.

Still, this is a rare glimpse into a country that's again in the news. As Dominique himself states, "Cinema is a window on to the world...If you see a film correctly, the grammar of the film is a political act."  

Both movies are currently playing at the Landmark Theatres, 2828 N. Clark Ave in Chicago.

J. Robert Parks