I get that the idea was not to make a documentary about barbecue recipes, but to show how the traditions and cultures sort of intertwine with this *kind of universal* ritual that is barbecuing.
I do feel the barbecues themselves were left aside, more often or not, in order to focus on the social issues, so I would argue the film lost a bit of focus.
My biggest issue with the documentary, however, is that it seems to not understand what it is actually about. They counted as barbecue that hot plate grilled meat they do over in Australia, and the shawarma, from the middle-east. Both of which, as far as I ever heard, are universally not considered barbecue (mostly because they don't use coal). And as if that wasn't enough, they ignored the south brazilian barbecue, which is, to my knowledge, the most ritualized in the world.
So, a documentary about barbecue that doesn't really display barbecues.
