April 1, 2025
By Adam Rabiner
Kale Brock, the journalist, researcher, and star of The Gut Movie, has the perfect name for a film about the human biome, diet, and health. Whatever you think of the leafy green vegetable, Kale is a genial guide. Young, blond, handsome, and enthusiastic, he usually has a happy smile on his face, even when having his own poo analyzed or literally picking up deposits left by others from the ground (more on that later).
The science of the human microbiome is often fast and furious and not easily followed without pressing pause.
Much of this topic was covered in our previous screening, The Invisible Extinction. To summarize: the human microbiome is the collection of all microorganisms (bacteria, archaea, fungi, and viruses) that live inside our bodies. It’s been found to be crucial to human health and wellness. If the microbiota is diverse and balanced, all is well. But if it becomes less diverse, or unbalanced, often because of overuse of antibiotics but also because of poor diet, the result can be leakage of toxins into the body, inflammation, and a wide range of diseases.
The science is often fast and furious and not easily followed without pressing pause. But it’s easy to get the gist. Part of Kale’s interest stems from his overuse of antibiotics as a kid suffering from a chronic chest infection. Though he has a decent microbiome, it’s below average in a variety of ways. The central premise of the film is to see if a totally different diet—more nature-based, less processed—can improve its multiplicity.
To test this hypothesis, Kale must get out of his native Australia and comfort zone. He decides, much to the benefit of this film, to visit the San people, indigenous hunters and gatherers who have lived in the Kalahari Desert in Namibia for 20,000 years. Unexposed to modern foods and medicines, the San have terrific microbiomes. Will a week hanging out with them change Kale’s gut?
The sojourn with the San really makes the film. The cinematographer, freed from cramped offices and face shots, lets loose with gorgeous framing of the African landscape and the people and animals that inhabit it. And as a former Peace Corps volunteer who served as a beekeeper in the Central African Republic after college in the late 1980s, I relished every interaction of Kale with his hosts.
Fortunately, one young San, who is 31 but looks like a teenager, speaks English and serves as Kale’s translator. On treks throughout the week, he teaches Kale the names of different tubers, berries, nuts, melons, edible roots, and legumes, many buried in the ground out of sight: for example, a starchy, fiber-filled bush potato. After almost a week of gathering, the Sans finally take Kale hunting, and even assign him the lead at one point, though he has only just learned how to silently stalk prey and shoot a poisoned arrow. It turns out that due to the difficulty of snaring an antelope, meat is a rare treat for the mostly vegetarian San.
For Kale, the good news is that his week in the Namibian desert, eating unfamiliar food dug up directly from the soil, has done wonders for his gut.
Kale finally broaches the topic of collecting stool samples. The slightly mystified and bemused Africans must deliberate before finally giving their consent. At first Kale tries to explain how to capture the sample themselves in tiny test tubes, but he eventually realizes that the unpleasant task will have to fall on him. He good-naturedly accepts this responsibility.
The audience should enjoy the moments with the Sans. They are joyful doers, makers, deeply in touch with the land and their environment in a way that most of the rest of humanity is not. Materially poorer, they nevertheless appear happy in their small community following their ancient ways. And they are healthy. Lean, athletic, flexible, and spry, even into their old age, they dance and display impressive athleticism and endurance.
For Kale, the good news is that his week in the Namibian desert, eating unfamiliar food dug up directly from the soil, has done wonders for his gut. Upon retesting, the range of organisms living there has multiplied. Kale’s sojourn has proven that diet can have a beneficial effect. He has some great news for his Ted Talk audiences. And a collection of terrific photos too.
The film will be screened on Zoom: The Gut Movie Tuesday, April 8, 2025 @ 7:00 p.m.
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The opinions expressed in the films screened in the Plow to Plate series are solely those of the filmmakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the series’ organizers or the Park Slope Food Coop.
Adam Rabiner lives in Ditmas Park with his wife, Dina, and child Ana.