Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers Review- By Michael Carlisle

Title: Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers
Year: 1980
Director: Les Blank
Country: US
Language: English 

Throughout cinematic history, great documentaries have been made to stir the hearts and minds of its audience. Films like The Redemption of General Butt Naked (2011) have us thinking about the nature of man and forgiveness, Whore's Glory (2012) shows the gritty underworld of prostitution throughout the world and Heart of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991) shows us the struggles one has to go through to achieve their dreams. Indeed the subjects of each documentary can differ greatly, Director Les Blank makes a film about a rather strange subject: Garlic

Les Blank's Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers is a documentary about the love of Garlic. He interviews chefs, garlic lovers, and historians about the their love of the 'stinking rose'. He also charts the history of Garlic and its many uses, which includes the use of garlic to fight off vampires and other demons.

Les Blank is a rather peculiar film-maker; often making documentaries about subjects that seem too strange to be a commercial success. He is most well known for his fascinating Burden of Dreams. A film which charts the chaotic production of Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo.  A couple of years before that film Blank would make Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers. The film is essentially a comprehensive guide to garlic provided in a somewhat entertaining fashion. A lesser filmmaker might just center the film about the connection between vampires and garlic, but Blank only dissects that for amount of short time, instead spending most of the film discussing its healthy quality and interviewing somewhat obsessed people.

Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers is a rather short film; clocking in at 50 minutes, Blank doesn't bore us nor load us up with too much information with the time given. The film is neither too short nor too long which is absolutely perfect. Many documentaries, like Forks Over Knives (2011), have a running time that is a bit short for the subject matter and thus try to overload us with so much information that we forget to enjoy the film. Blank's documentary shows that he has a knack for taking seemingly insignificant subjects and making them profound.

In conclusion, while Blank did not successfully convince me that Garlic is as good as ten mothers, he did show me that Garlic should be taken much more seriously as a healthy vegetable. No more should garlic take a backseat to broccoli, celery and carrots. While it's a good documentary, it's only as entertaining as the individual audience member makes it. Praise it! 3.5/5