By Travis Stewart, LPC, Remuda Ranch Programs for Eating and Anxiety Disorders

The new film documentary, America the Beautiful, has found a built-in audience among those who work with eating disorders. But will the film's appeal grow beyond that audience and impact American culture? That was one of the questions looming in my mind as I left the premiere in Chicago.

I hope that the film's audience grows by leaps and bounds! Director Darryl Roberts has made a film that pulls back the veil on the beauty industry without being mean spirited or agenda driven. Instead he seems to be on a personal quest to discover why so many women feel unhappy with their appearance and to expose the cultural machine that drives Americans to spend billions of dollars every year on diet and beauty products.

The film opens with a comparison between two 12 year-old girls. One looks into the camera and plainly states that she feels ugly and that nothing anyone says can change her mind about that. In truth, she seems to be a charming young lady. The other 12 year-old, Gerren Taylor, was at the time something of a prodigy in the world of high fashion, sharing the runway with some of the world's top supermodels despite her young age. This comparison sets the stage for the next 100 minutes, as Roberts attempts to understand how two 12 year-olds who don't seem very different can have opposite perceptions of beauty and self-image.

The film follows Gerren's career as she hits highs and lows in the fashion world. It explores the shocking and at times disturbing experiences of a 12 year-old thrust into an adult arena, including parties, photo shoots, and the experience of constant judgments on her body. All this occurs while Gerren is under the care of her ambitious, body-conscious mother.

In between the chapters of Gerren's story, Roberts explores topics such as plastic surgery, photo-retouching, and cultural perceptions of beauty and eating disorders. If you've worked in the field of eating disorders for some time you will be reminded of Joan Lunden's Behind Closed Doors and Jean Kilbourne's several works. But Roberts' film is flavored with even more curiosity and cultural exploration. In fact, Roberts' narration is so calm and even-handed that one might mistake it for indifference. As you watch, however, you will likely experience amazement and growing shock at how much our culture has degraded women and objectified their bodies.

As the film progresses one can sense there is trouble looming ahead. With an almost innocent approach, Roberts reveals the suspect policies of celebrity magazines, plastic surgeons, fashion industry leaders, so called beauty experts, and cosmetic manufacturers-where one of the most disturbing sequences involves exposing the harmful ingredients found in most cosmetic products on the shelves today. There is no doubt that if this film reaches mass viewing, companies exposed in the film may face the high price of consumer backlash.

The film ends with two moving sequences. The first explores the impact of our cultural obsessions with beauty and thinness on the development of eating disorders. For most professionals in the field this will be familiar ground, but there is great satisfaction in seeing these issues on the big screen.

The second sequence finds us in an intimate conversation with the child-model, now about 15 years-old, as she discusses her own sense of beauty. After three years of constant comparison, measurement, and evaluation, including being told she was too big for Italian fashion shows, Gerren now echoes the words of the other 12 year-old heard at the beginning of the film: "I'm ugly and fat." There is no convincing her otherwise. We are used to blaming fashion models for unhealthy expectations of women's bodies, but we see here that fashion models are often victims as much as the average woman, and in some ways more so.

This is a powerful film that challenges us to ask difficult questions. The heart of the film is to incite change in our culture. Its effect has the potential, as noted by movie critic Roger Ebert, to "rescue the lives of some girls age 12 and up."

Having said that, be warned! America the Beautiful is not for the very young or those offended by graphic language. And while there is no nudity, there are many images of models wearing very little clothing, and several frank discussions about sexuality. Combined with the frequent utterance of four-letter words and candid cultural commentary by playwright Eve Ensler, the film earns an R rating.

If you want to support the message of this film and be able to recommend it to colleagues and clients, watch for it to arrive in your city and attend on opening weekend. Like movies produced by large studios, the success of independent films depends on high numbers of viewers during the opening weekend. Unlike those larger films, independent films may not show a second weekend without earning substantial audiences in the theater.

For more information, go to www.americathebeautifuldoc.com