Gary Null's How to Live Forever (1999)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Directed by Bob Marty
Starring Gary Null

Features:

• weblinks
  

Rating: NR, suitable for all audiences

Anamorphic: N/A

My Advice: Rent it.

How to Live Forever is arranged seminar style, giving Gary Null, double-PhD-holder and writer, the chance to convince you that he knows how to make you feel better, live longer, and say goodbye to many of the aches, pains, and even diseases that are troubling you. Presenting to an audience the fruits of a long study, Null claims to be able to reduce stress, allergies, arthritis, and more serious life-threatening diseases with his simple system, which he presents in full on this disc.

Null’s ideas are simple to understand and not even terribly revolutionary, or rather not new to those who pay attention to cutting-edge health research. Part of his message is to disregard what we’ve been taught about the Four Basic Food Groups… they’re killing us as a nation. Instead, avoid those toxic food substances that your doctor has been telling you to limit for years, such as sugar, meats, and wheat. Fill up on fresh fruits and vegetables—those things that you know your body needs and that can satisfy hunger without lots of empty calories and nasty chemicals. Reducing body mass, for example, will not only give you more energy and possibly help with depression and stress, but it will help fend off osteoporosis.

As a host, Null is very lively and engaging. He’s not as uber-friendly as a Baptist minister, which has the positive effect of making viewers more likely to trust what he has to say. There are a few times when he calls forth members of his audience who have been in his experimental groups to hear their testimony and results. Null may rush through what they have to say a bit, but this seems to have more to do with Null’s desire to present more information in the time allotted than a disregard for these people themselves. He treats them all respectfully, which is more than many health professionals allow the public.

The audio and video quality are plenty good enough for this kind of project. No fancy camera angels or digital effects, but such things are rather inappropriate to the subject matter, not to mention distracting from the importance of Null’s message. It would have been nice, as I said above, to have had a different governing aesthetic and methodology, but given what we have here, the digital transfer works just fine.

All in all, How to Live Forever is a wonderful primer on how to behave yourself as you know you should. Even if you don’t live much longer, you’ll certainly feel better in the years you do have—and what more can you really ask than to enjoy your life? There’s a difference, after all, between taking a sick day, and needing to take a sick day. Go out and enjoy your life! Would you rather have that Twinkie or another few years of healthy, happy life?