Film Review: The Business of Disease

A behind the scenes production shot of The Business of Disease director Sonia Barrett

The healthcare industrial complex spends billions of dollars on packaging and branding brainwash us into believing that there are no viable alternatives to Western medicine’s approach to curing this or that illness. In fact, doctors and pharmaceuticals have been so successful in this endeavor that it is now mandatory that every citizen purchase insurance to cover conventional types of medical treatment.

But it is the contention of advocates of holistic healing that we’re being manipulated to resort reflexively to drugs and/or surgery when a less drastic or invasive path to wellness might be readily available. As Dr. Bradley Nelson, author and chiropractor, asserts, “Most people have no idea how to be healthy, or what the underlying cause of a symptom is.” Nevertheless, like lemmings, most of us simply follow whatever regimen a physician prescribes for the condition we’re presenting.

If you are concerned about your health and are at all inclined to question authority, you might want to check out The Business of Disease, a damning documentary written, directed, produced and narrated by Sonia Barrett. With the assistance of a number of New Age luminaries, Ms. Barrett makes the case for naturopathic medicine.

Among the experts she interviewed for this project, is Dr. Jacob Liberman, Ph.D.  who claims that the medical profession is based on a very limited model in terms of remedies. “The misperception that most people have is that there’s a drug that can help them,” he says. “And if a drug can’t help them, then maybe surgery can.”

Also weighing-in is Dr. John Virapen, Ph.D., a pharmaceutical executive-turned-whistleblower. He believes if there were truth in advertising, “Life Insurance” would be called “Death Insurance” and “Health Care” would be referred to as “Disease Care.”

The Business of Disease doesn’t just criticize The Establishment, but suggests that such offbeat therapies as yoga, music, art and even light might be all you need to reverse a malady. Low production values aside, this iconoclastic expose’ has a wealth of information to offer the very open-minded.

Excellent (4 stars)

Unrated

Running time: 88 minutes

Distributor: Dreamspell Productions