Black Gold

If you've never given much thought to the lives affected each time you choose one brand of coffee over another, allow this handsomely mounted documentary from British filmmakers Marc and Nick Francis to serve as a bracing, double-shot of reality.

An engrossing documentary.

The film's effectiveness is bolstered by juxtaposed scenes of fat and happy Americans and Europeans slurping up frozen chai lattes and clucking about how big Starbuck's is getting with scenes of children going into "therapeutic feeding centers" in the region where Starbuck's gets its coffee because they can't afford to by corn.

Guaranteed to make you think twice about what you're paying for what you're drinking.

Black Gold is more an Al Gore-style message of hope than a total downer.

While plenty of information is imparted in the impassioned proceedings, the film loses some impact because of its lack of a compelling structure.

There's been a proliferation of "globalization sucks" documentaries over the past couple of years, but few have been as blunt as Black Gold.