The Beautiful Truth (2008) User Reviews

A Helpful Lesson in Alternative Medicine

[Daryl-7 · 8/10 · 18 March 2009]

This is a good movie to see for anyone even slightly open to alternative medicine / holistic health. It was interesting to hear the success stories of people who were saved by Gerson Therapy, which I don't doubt a bit (I know people who have survived cancer using similar means). However, I wish the film hadn't given the impression that --everyone-- gets better with Gerson, which of course isn't truth for any therapy.

It surprises me that some people are still so hostile to the fact that changes in diet can change a diagnosis like cancer. If you think about how you got cancer in the first place (just coincidence??? just genetics??? C'mon...) then it is easier to think about diet as cause, complication and/or cure. I guess it will just take time for more people to come around.

The movie was pretty well done. Very heavily biased towards the positive side of Gerson, very little airing of people dissenting against it, just a few seconds of those interviews, and unfortunately, focusing on guys like Stephen Barrett, who have been completely discredited in the medical field. I wish they would have had some good back-and-forth discussion on the pros and cons of Gerson without just throwing up a straw man like Barrett who is so easy to disparage. Unfortunately, stuff like Gerson Therapy tends to be a very emotional topic for Western medical specialists, so it must have been hard to find a person who could talk intelligently and somewhat calmly about it.

The movie tries to make this a personal journey for this young man, as he discovers what is going on with Gerson Therapy and food as medicine. I think the movie was paced nicely and it wasn't too preachy. Overall, quite good. 8 stars out of 10

Exposes the entangled business interests which have molded our medical professions and pharmaceutical industries, plus other conspiracy theory gems.

[VWFringe · 8/10 · 12 March 2012]

If you are lucky enough to watch this film after reading any of these reviews, good for you. This film will expose you to a lot of Left-leaning prose, and a lot of scatter-shot facts about the controversy around the entangled business interests which have helped form our medical health system and practices, plus some other conspiracy theory stuff. If you like a good conspiracy theory you're gonna like this film. It's not trying to prove Gershon heals cancer, don't think of it like that. It's trying to build a logic cube in your head, let the facts flow in, then later start researching what you've heard, and don't stop when you find something you like, look for the other side too. After a while your mind can make new connections between the new information and what you're been taught. This stuff's too important to gloss over. It's important to learn new ways of thinking about things which incorporate more facts and more reality, and if you're only watching the narratives shown on TV, radio and news papers, you're not being exposed to the real controversies around our medical and pharmaceutical industries. Why would I want you to doubt the FDA is protecting you? because I found out about some of the controversy - it's not just one thing, and they're all important to know about. How else will we ever hope to demand our elected officials change it? Look for the Vanity Fair article called Dangerous Medicine. Some of the controversy is starting to be reported in mainstream media. Look to Democracy Now or the Huffington Post for more. Stick with it, get mad, don't withdraw from the hopelessness of it, stay mad, it helps with the petition signing you'll end up doing.

An Alternative Approach To Heath That Deserves a Serious Consideration

[nilent · 10/10 · 21 November 2008]

This well made documentary presents a perspective that will likely raise the ire of the medical establishment.

On one level it's about the "Gerson Therapy"; but it's really about so much more than simply eating organic vegetables, you really have to see it for yourself. The last two minutes or so are very inspiring.

If you're the type that believes what you're told and blindly follows the dictates of the "conventional wisdom" and the "proper authorities"; then run away from "A Beautiful Truth".

On the other hand, if your mind is open and you have a concern about your health, the health of your family and friends, and of the biosphere in general; then this is a must see.

From my perspective, the film goes a bit over the top in some of it's implications. It's not perfect and it doesn't have "all the answers" IMHO. But, I have to tell you that most of it "rings true".

The POV of the young fellow at the center of the storyline brings the viewer back to an essential perspective throughout. It's a feature length documentary that flows as free and smoothly as any good movie.

This is a life affirming documentary that has great production values, music, cinematography and just maybe.....might influence some people in ways that save or extend their lives.

And that's a *good* thing!

A remarkably honest exploration of a young man ...

[nyland8 · 10/10 · 17 November 2008]

I had the good and timely fortune of catching this movie here in NYC just this Saturday, 11/15/08.

A documentary, it follows the discoveries of one young man, Garret, in his exploration of the workings of the human body, of our allopathic "treat the symptom" medical orthodoxy, and of the vast chemical and pharmaceutical interests whose perverse incentives perpetuate our abhorrent "health care" (read "disease care") system. By innocently following a thread to its logical conclusion, young Garrett uncovers not only a simple and efficacious cure for disease, but also exposes the ugly truth about the medical and chemical industries that thrive at the expense of our well-being, and their complicity with the government agency allegedly charged with protecting the public.

For anyone who has ever wondered why the FDA - the Food and Drug ADMINISTRATION - is not now, and will never be, called the FDQAD - or the Food and Drug Quality Assurance Department - this film can represent the beginning of wisdom.

Don't get sick until you see it.

Propaganda

[weirddave · 3/10 · 9 November 2009]

There's a lot of truth in this film. Eating a healthy diet is important in so many ways, and the kind of diet espoused by the film would be a giant step up for most of us, but that's not what makes "The Beautiful Truth" so bad.

The movie is set from the perspective of a 15 year old boy who finds compelling anecdotal evidence that Gerson Therapy is effective at curing disease. However, there is no objective, scientific evidence or study that has ever shown this to be true, so the movie chooses to create a conspiracy instead of believing the actual scientific proved truth.

The narrator talks condescendingly to the audience, and his tone says everything: "If a 15 year old boy who hates to read and has no education in this area can understand this, then it shouldn't be too hard for you idiots." But the truth of the matter is that neither the intended audience nor the 15 year old boy have the requisite tools to understand the material.

This documentary was made to push Gerson and alternative medicine as the cure for cancer, and not just to promote healthy eating as a preventative measure against cancer.

Please everybody, do yourselves a favor. Eat healthy now, whether you are sick or not. Go to a real licensed medical doctor whenever you get sick, and make sure to do what he tells you to do. If you find a movie and an uneducated 15 year old boy more compelling than scientific evidence, you should take a moment and reconsider whether you believe in things because they work ("The Ugly Truth") or if you believe in them because you wish that they worked ("A Beautiful Lie").

Even if it -is- "propaganda", turnabout's fair play.

[lazur-2 · 27 October 2011]

Does anyone really dispute that mainstream cancer treatments are a miserable failure for 99% of cancer types? Allopathic medicine was once was one of -many- choices for medical treatment in America. As they gained financial & political power, they launched into a campaign of bullying & lies to force other practitioners to go to -their- schools & do things -their- way, or have their practices marginalized, even destroyed. We've grown up in an America that's been brainwashed by the AMA into believing that allopathic medicine -is- medicine, & every other mode of treatment is somehow -not- medicine. The AMA, ADA, & ACS exist only for the perpetuation of their own increasing wealth, & as an army in the war against all other medical philosophies. Personally I believe the information in this film, but in any case, what would be wrong with a little propaganda in the fight against the AMA / ADA / CDC / ACS / FDA / Monsanto / Dupont / Bayer / Dow / Johnson&Johnson / Pfizer /Roche / GlaxoSmithKline / Novartis / Sanofi / AstraZeneca / Abbott / Merck / Lilly / Bristol-MyersSqibb / Alcoa conspiracy? They're the largest propaganda machine in world history!

Great Documentary

[kjkollman · 10/10 · 1 September 2023]

This was such an eye opening documentary for me, I saw this about 15 years ago. Thankfully, before I had children and it certainly changed my perspective on allopathic medicine and how I wanted my relationship with allopathic medicine to be moving forward.

While I cannot 100%, personally, say yes or no to the Gerson Therapy because I have not tried the therapy myself (it has still helped many people deemed terminally ill by western medicine, evidence produced by the film's first hand accounts), the most important factor was that it exposes the machine for what it is. This changed my life forever.

Sad and scary

[crunchykitten · 1/10 · 27 August 2011]

This film is blatant promotion of the rankest health quackery, an "alternative cancer therapy" that bilks hundreds of desperate people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars- then sends them home to drink carrot juice, squirt coffee up their bums, and die. This film was made to appeal to the least discriminating and most vulnerable members of society, in an attempt to get their money before they die and it's no longer in reach. The film offers no clinical evidence for the Gershon Therapy (there is none) and no credible science to support it. It's sad and scary and more than unfortunate- it's criminal. But it's not new. The same ridiculous garbage has been sold- at the highest possible prices- to a gullible public, under different names, for a long time.

It could've been way better...

[Sonic_Master · 20 September 2014]

The movie itself is basically a sequel to a great move called The Beautiful Truth (2008) and pretty much takes off where the first one finishes.. It's like Steve Kroschel had some extra material that would've made the first movie too long, so he decided to save it for another if the first one gets good reviews.

It's the same idea, and similar topics as the first one and it is very interesting, however at the same time it very annoying at the moments that i had a hard time keeping it playing..

Steve Kroschel is a great director, but forcing himself so much to find a place for his son in this documentary was a horrible idea...

Even though he was trying to present this documentary as a brainchild of his son, there was no single moment in the movie where it hasn't been blatantly obvious that his son is not even able to read a single paragraph properly let alone to direct a part of the movie and make something on his own..

It was basically "Show the kids,where the daddy works, day" turned bad...

He made the same mistake, Coppola has made in godfather trying so hard to fit his kid into the picture not thinking that it is a movie and not a "family thing", and that he should find someone who can actually act, not a total anti-talent so he got the similar outcome..

It was so annoying that rating the movie with 6 stars i feel i am being generous..