We Feed People

Ron Howard's fast-moving documentary about chef Jose Andres' journey from ebullient celebrity chef to global humanitarian is a genuinely inspiring film. Andres' empathetic work with the World Central Kitchen is familiar from brief snippets on the news, but the amount of life-threatening risk and sacrifice would put anyone else's efforts (or lack thereof) to shame. Howard masterfully jumps from one emergency location to the next by exposing the hard reality of Andres' actions often based on decisions that need to be made on the spot and on the chef's unbending spirit in keeping everyone motivated. Howard smartly portrays Andres not as an angelic saint but as the hard-driving leader he needs to be during a crisis.

"We're not only feeding people, we're creating a system," said José Andrés in the opening scene in Ron Howard's new documentary We Feed People.

He is creating a system, indeed. A working one, called World Central Kitchen. He has been cooking and feeding thousands of people, mostly suffering from the aftermath of hurricanes. At one point he Is in the middle of one too, as seen in his Instagram videos.

The foreign title of the film reads "Charity Rescue Mission," which is a bit deceptive, as the description only fits the last half of We Feed People. We start with abrupt and brief footage of him on a mission, but the real mission does not really take place until the 50-minute mark. We know a lot more about Andres first. Howard devoted half of the film to introduce us to him. His background, family, work, and the creation of his foundation are all told using talking head interviews and archive footage. Andres plays a significantly smaller role later on. We don't see him as often. We only see how his remarkable actions affect people.

After the "rescue mission" begins is when the film starts to repeat itself. It constantly praises Andres and remind us of the goal of WCK. It is all good-hearted, though, as we clearly see the impact WCK has on people. The impact it has on us, though, is lacking.

This film is hardly flawless - Andrés feels a little too centered and the pace drags a bit over the second half. That said, we should talk more about good people doing good work. You can do way worse than a great director telling an important story.

As "We Feed People" (2022 release; 87 min) opens, we are in "Wilmington, North Carolina 2018" and Jose Andres and his team at World Central Kitchen is gearing up to cook 100,000 meals every day. Of course the meals must get to the people who are affected by Hurricane Florence, and we watch harrowing footage of massive flooding as far as the eye can see. We then go back in time to 1993, when Jose arrived in Washington DC to lead the kitchen at the Spanish restaurant Jaleo. At this point we are 10 min into the film.

Couple of comments: this is the latest documentary from producer-director Ron Howard, working with the National Geographic. Here he looks back at the life and times of celebrity chef Jose Andres (who famously detests that label, saying "I cook and I feed"). In 2010, seeing the sheer devastation and utter destruction in Haiti, Andres cannot sit back and goes to Haiti to help out and cook meals. It turns out to be the beginning of his NGO World Central Kitchen. Along the way we also get a look at Andres as a husband and a dad. Once can't help but be struck by the always energetic and upbeat attitude that Andres displays in even the most dire circumstances. Along the way, we get unforgettable footage from 2016's Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, 2018's volcano Fuego's explosion in Guatemala, etc.

"We Feed People" premiered this weekend on Disney+. It is currently rated 100% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. I wouldn't go that far (for that, the documentary is a bit too predictable), but this is a worthwhile look at someone who puts his money where his mouth is--literally, and does an immense amount of good through his World Kitchen Central. Of course you don't have to take my word for it, so I encourage you to check it out and draw your own conclusion.

I appreciate those who have an analytical perspective on this! That said, from my "normal/civilian" perspective, this documentary is transformational for a person such as myself. I cannot recommend this film any higher!