Movie Review: Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead

As I have repeatedly said, this is the film that started it all for me.  It tells the story of Joe Cross, an apparently very successful Australian man whose "successful" lifestyle had gotten him to the point where he could be described by the title of the film and where he was, as he says, "one cheesburger away from a heart attack."  He also had a severe and dibilitating autoimmune disease for which he was taking multiple medications, including steroids.  He decided that something had to change . . . that he needed to "reboot" his life.

He remembered that as a child his body had been able to manage pretty well at healing itself and concluded that his unhealthy lifestyle -- particularly his unhealthful eating habits -- had robbed his body of that ability.  And since he knew that eating healthy foods -- particularly vegetables and fruits -- would be key to helping his body recover he decided to supercharge the process.  For sixty days he would eat consume nothing but fresh vegetable and fruit juice, infusing his system with the micronutrients and phytochemicals he had been denying it.

And since this is a movie it needs some kind of hook, so he decided to come to the United States -- home to his favorite unhealthy foods -- and travel across this country while fasting, introducing as many people as he could to his experiment.  Along the way he meets a trucker -- who by coincidence has the same rare autoimmune disease, and who is also "fat, sick, and nearly dead."  This man, Phil Stapels, decides to try Joe's approach, and the film chronicles both of their efforts . . . and their results.

There is a lot of pain in this film -- few people who are in the condition of these two men got there without some amount of personal pain that needs to be addressed -- but also a whole lot of hope.  The film is honest, and surprisingly humerous.  (Joe is a wonderful narrator and guide.)  It's filled with a lot of solid information, and is crammed full of inspiration.  A quick look at the movie's FaceBook page, or the community of "rebooters" on it's website, and you'll see countless testimonials from people who've seen the movie and tried the practice (although many for a lot less than 60 days!) and who have seen incredibly exciting results.  (If you look carefully you can find my own contributions to both of these sites.)

If you think your life could benefit from a "reboot," this movie might just be the trigger that you need.

In Gassho,

RevWik

PS -- a reminder that I will be hosting a public viewing of this movie at Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church - Unitarian Universalist, in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Friday, February 1st and again on Wednesday, February 13th.

Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead - Official Trailer from Team Reboot on Vimeo.

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