The Mad Chocolate Adventure
At 9 p.m. on France 5
Chocolate is about 7.5 kilos consumed by the French per year, centuries of history, and 30% of manufacturers’ annual turnover during the Christmas holidays. All of this was well worth a documentary. France 5 got down to it and offers a film of an hour and a half, whose introduction ready to smile: Tom Hanks, seated on a bench, tastes a box of chocolates, in a scene from Forrest Gump become legendary. The tone is set.
The archive images parade to fairy tale music, interspersed with numerous testimonies from chocolate makers, but also from researchers, historians, sociologists, and even a “chocologist”. With them, we retrace the journey of cocoa, from the first voyages of the conquistadors to new ways of tasting chocolate, including the role played by manufacturers in the development of advertising. Infographics and maps multiply, while famous paintings come to life to skilfully serve the story.
Toasts of happiness
An adventurer, the director’s camera accompanies Stéphane Bonnat to a cocoa plantation in Uganda, where the master chocolatier is careful to offer the families of farmers good working conditions in an environment that respects the environment. Coming from a long line of chocolate makers, the entrepreneur sometimes pays more than double the kilo of cocoa beans.
Still, initiatives like his are rare and we can regret that the documentary does not stop more on the ecological and human impact of the chocolate industry, in terms of deforestation and child labor. A silence that ends up leaving a bitter taste, especially since, throughout the documentary, many commercials praise the aphrodisiac, health and human values of what has become a symbol of globalization.