In Search of Balance

The documentary argues about the link between health, science and nature. Its starting point is that a person cannot be thought of apart from their surroundings. Soil, food and the body are treated as links in one chain. The camera goes into fields and into laboratories. Soil scientists and microbiologists speak. Doctors and farmers speak as well. The human microbiome sits at the centre of the argument. A connection is drawn between it and the microorganisms in soil. Organic farming is put forward. At one point, though, the film is thin. The scientific ground under the connections it proposes is disputed. It was said to lack hard science to back them. It gives the opposing view no room either. Miguel Altieri and Eshel Ben-Jacob speak in the seventy four minute documentary, an American production Adam Pfleghaar finished in 2016.