Doling out a healthy dose of skepticism
These three Netflix docs examine the wellness industry in trying times
It can be said without even a hint of exaggeration that everyone — everyone in the world — is focused on their health right now. One can also argue that what is healthy and what is harmful it hotly debated.
While some, like U.S. President Donald Trump, are willing to take risks with experimental treatments, others might wait for approved treatments from traditional sources. Although, with the growth of the wellness industry, even traditional medicine is being questioned. And, Netflix has noticed.
With a healthy stock of documentaries in its collection, Netflix is seemingly cornering the market on what’s topical and trending. Its Social & Cultural and Science & Nature docs and doc series are consistently in the Trending Now and Top Ten categories.
Resting at the cross-section of the two is health and wellness. It’s not yet an official genre, but it might as well be for the number of titles that would fall in this category. Netflix has even gone the extra step within Wellness, creating an unofficial subgenre that vibrates at a questioning, debunking or cynical frequency.
Here are three titles from Netflix that will spur debate, make you think twice and maybe even send a shiver down your spine. Watch with your eyes wide open and your thinking caps tightly secured.
“(UN) Well”
Likely, the most important message to be considered from this original six-episode series is the one printed on the title card that ceremoniously (and lawfully) appears immediately after the signature Netflix tadum, announcing that this is meant to “entertain and inform — not provide medical advice.”
Interestingly, it is categorized by Netflix as Reality TV. Described as a “deep dive” into the fads and products like essential oils, fasting, bee sting therapy and more, the series sets out to find if they live up to the promises they make.
If the filmmakers were to let their feet reach the floor, they would realize they are standing in shallow waters. Rather than research and data, the series profiles some of the experiences, for better or worse, of advocates, guru-types and followers of these treatments, adding in commentary from journalists and skeptics for balance.
According to the docuseries, wellness is, in fact, big business. It thrives as an antidote to big pharma and traditional medicine, and a larger-than-life figure with a remarkable story is its cornerstone.
In the first episode, we hear from a doTerra advocate (yes, the multi-level marketing company) claiming to have witnessed one miracle story after another, including her own, sharing that she recovered from a brain tumour as a child by self-administering a treatment of frankincense and clove oils, without her doctor’s knowledge.
Conversely, another user became allergic to essential oils after doubling-down on her treatments. Where the truth lies remains murky, but this episode does make the case for sellers of MLM products — those that don’t reach the top of the pyramid do hemorrhage some serious green.
“The Bleeding Edge”
If body horror was a genre that extended to documentary, “The Bleeding Edge” would sadly fall into it. From the award-winning director Kirby Dick (”Twist of Faith,” 2005, “The Invisible War,” 2012) this hardhitting doc exposes a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) loophole in the pre-market approval process of medical devices that have resulted in disastrous consequences for thousands of people worldwide.
The film explores several devices, including a vaginal mesh and metal-on-metal cobalt orthopedic implant, but the through-line is the story of Bayer and a non-surgical permanent birth control called Essure. With interviews from patients, experts, former FDA researchers and using corporate archival footage, how Essure came to be and how it still haunts those who had it administered and removed is pieced together and the dirty underbelly of the FDA is exposed.
For skeptics of the traditional medical industry, this feeds their argument about “big pharma.” Although the truth, as this doc puts it, is that the medical device industry is far more powerful than pharma.
As one expert says, because of how technology is accelerating, medical devices are “running away faster than we are keeping up with the actual science.” And, for a $300-billion-a-year industry, the FDA doesn’t seem interested in slowing it down.
Essure was pulled off the market in 2018, an announcement that preceded the premiere of the documentary by a week, despite the “robust defence” that Bayer mounted against it. Bayer voluntarily pulled Essure from the Canadian market one year prior. It had been already banned in Brazil and discontinued in the U.K. and Finland.
“The Truth About Alcohol”
First broadcast on the BBC in 2016, the same year that the U.K. national health service issued new alcohol consumption guidelines because of the strong link that alcohol consumption has to cancer, “The Truth About Alcohol” sets out to bust some of the tales we tell ourselves about drinking.
Through demonstrations, based on scientific research and often in a pub setting, ER doc Javid Abdelmoneim, with a glint of mischief in his eye, guides us through topics like: Is red wine better for your health than white wine; why do some of us get tipsier than others; is preventing a hangover possible and does a nightcap help improve your sleep?
One specific detail worth pointing out is that women 55 and over really do see a benefit from drinking five units of alcohol per week (a regular glass of wine would be considered two units), in terms of their heart health.
It’s a one-hour lesson that’s easy to digest and can safely be accompanied by exactly one drink, as you will learn.