Watch The Real Dirt on Farmer John For Free

Why so much hype?

Too much of everything

The Worst Film Ever

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

I watched this entire "documentary" at the Nashville Film Festival. First, I think the film is staged and I felt dirty after leaving the screening. Certain scenes in the film are obviously orchestrated between filmmaker and filmmee/subject. Second, farmer John acted during the entire film! How can this film be classified as a documentary for this simple reason? There was too much collaboration between farmer John and the director, and these conspirators' agreements magnified through the entire film. The film presents everything on the farm through rose colored glasses, and presents Mexico as the "exotic other" where farmer John travels to find "relief" in a "mysterious" world filled with superstition. What a load of dirt! One sentence summary: bring soap with you to watch this film; through careful observation, you'll feel soiled after you leave the theater due to deception, trickery, and artificial "documentary" film-making!

Besides being a well done documentary with good technical aspects, and good informational content, this was as entertaining as it could be. AND, after seeing this at the Nashville Film Festival, I have been motivated to find a farmer like this, to support and to get food.The biodymamic farming principles explained in the documentary are used at a local farm here. They have improved the soil and the output of this local organic farm and will improve my life!We were lucky enough to see this at the Nashville festival and get to meet John Peterson and the director as well, and it was great! Rent this or see it if you can. And find somewhere to get Community Supported Agriculture food.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I had only a vague idea of what it was about beforehand. After an interesting beginning it seemed to lose some steam in the middle, but by the end it coalesced into a wonderful story. John's life is inspiring on many levels and I left the theater with more energy and determination. If you have any interest in individuality, community or farming, this movie is for you.On a side note, I saw this film at the Wisconsin International Film Festival and was seated in the theater behind John, the filmmaker, and John's girlfriend. It added an extra element to watch a man's life story while the back of his head was right in front of my face!

A strange story for sure, but one that made me cry in public, which doesn't happen. Farmer John is a very unique soul, but a good one. Even if you don't dig the cross-dressing or the purity of his vegetables, the tales of farmers, the land, and the love of the good earth is incredible and one we should not forget. When the old farmer explains how once good farmland has been covered up by asphalt and subdivisions, if your eyes don't at least water then there's something wrong with you. I am a computer science professor who can't go without email for more than eight hours, but this film reminded me that my father was a farmer in the 1930's and made me remember how much I loved having a little garden on my parents' 5 acre garden when I was a little kid.This is a work of a man's lifetime, and the lifetime of a man who has done good work all his life. I'm a bit biased because I'm fortunate enough to know Farmer John a little, but I only came to know him after I saw this film and realized what a good guy he is. If it helps just one person or (more importantly) one farm, I'm sure he'll be happy.This film made me want to be a good guy again. I highly recommend it to anyone who eats food or longs for a reason to continue doing so.