Read David Limacher’s interview with Darryl, here: A chat with Darryl Roberts
Limacher Low Down: America the Beautiful 2: The Thin Commandments is a follow up to the 2007 Documentary America the Beautiful. The first movie dealt with the issues of Americans doing what they can to look better. America the Beautiful 2: The Thin Commandments provides greater insight into Body Mass Index (BMI), the world of weight loss, diets, and the infatuation people seem to have with believing that being thin means that a person is healthy. The movie provides insight into these topics, and Director Darryl Roberts offers himself as a test subject to test some diets and hypotheses as well.
We start off the movie by gaining a better understanding of the Body Mass Index or BMI. This is the scale that dictates whether people are healthy, overweight, or obese. Did you know that stars such as Will Smith, Mel Gibson, and Christian Bale are considered overweight according the BMI scale? Hell, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is considered OBESE when measured by the BMI scale. The BMI scale says if a person is a certain height, they need to weigh a certain amount or they are overweight or obese! The movie offers a great insight into the falsities of the BMI scale and certain reasons why the scale has shown great importance to certain people.
The movie then moves to Darryl getting a physical by his doctor, and he learns that he has an irregular heart beat and high blood pressure. This is an alarming fact which affects more people than care to realize it. It gets worse for Darryl when the doctor prescribes him two medications which could result in a man’s WORST NIGHTMARE, Erectile Dysfunction! Darryl realizes that it is now up to him to do whatever he can to not need the medication, and cure his problems as well.
Darryl decides to attempt a “Raw” diet. Raw diets are a basic vegan diet in which foods are provided that starts with a 4 week cleanse of all the toxins in the system to start properly on the diet. After speaking with people who have succeeded on the diet, he decides to give it a try. The scenes in which Darryl is on the “Raw” diet offer a funny and honest portrayal of what most people experience. Darryl doesn’t stop there; he goes through a gauntlet of diets all of which provide the same results.
The movie next focuses on High Fructose Corn Syrup. There is great insight into the reasons behind the use of High Fructose Corn Syrup as well. When certain people are questioned about High Fructose Corn Syrup, the subject is quickly changed or the subject is just ignored all together. Facts are provided and should hold the interest of most viewers.
Next we meet Candi, a person so infatuated with looking good, and being a certain way that it has taken over her life. She works out in the morning, goes to work, and then works out after work as well. Candi is so infatuated that she and Darryl head off to the gym in the middle of a blizzard that closed down Chicago. She believes that all the work she is putting in will pay off. But where does it end? She hits her goal, and then sets a new goal. She gets questioned when her figure and weight will finally be good enough, and it seems only she knows just when it will be good enough.
There is one scene that has stuck with me, and will continue to stick with me for years to come. In one of the most heart wrenching scenes in the movie, Darryl’s half sister admits to him a secret that she never told him. She had the courage to tell him for the first time on camera as well. It took real courage for her to do it, and her Doctor gave her advice to help her with the problem she had in the past. Her doctor had told her that her BMI was too high to conceive a child. Her Doctor was transfixed on the BMI scale that he has her believing that if she wants to have a child, she must lose weight and be at a BMI of less than 25%. It really makes a person wonder if this is true, or what facts either party has to go off to show this is true.
Focus now moves to BMI and education. Schools in Ohio are now mandated to place the BMI number of students in 1st, 3rd, 7th, and 9th grade on their report cards so parents get more involved! Superintendents are interviewed about why they petitioned to no longer subject their students to placement of the BMI scale on their report cards. They provide some interesting facts, and provide good reason as to why they chose to do what they did. The State Senator who wrote and helped pass the bill into law was interviewed as well. He seemed so obsessed with living by the BMI scale, he seemed blinded by the facts Darryl provided thus far.
Darryl does a good job of providing facts behind the BMI, the people who lowered the number back in 1998, and also into the CDC. He provided interesting insight to different factors that may have been overlooked as well. The facts and figures are out there, it is just how a person chooses to view them that make all the difference. But Darryl is not done there. He chats with psychiatrists and nutritionists about weight loss, and the facts they provide are eye opening as well.
The movie does a good job of giving a better understanding into the obsession with weight and being thin. Is it healthy? Are diets healthy? Is there one solution to the problem? The questions may go unanswered, but are left for the viewer to decide. The humor flows freely, and it helps progress the movie along well. There are points when the movie doesn’t progress well, and the fact some questions are left unanswered left me with more questions than answers. The movie was well done, and I would suggest it for anyone who questions diets, or the reasoning why America has the infatuation with looking a certain way.
