Barry Barclay's documentary about the management of crop genetic resources is, among other things, the most engrossing and emotionally engaging film about potatoes you are likely to see for a long time. Today's scientific plant breeder is able to induce, in three generations, genetic transformation in crops which once took centuries of cultivation to evolve. Some of the richest, most resilient plant resources are to be found in the Third World, but of course only the corporations of the wealthy West have the facilities and expertise to manipulate these raw materials in useful ways. The question arises, then: who owns these new strains? Barclay, along with cameraman Rory O'Shea, traveled to communities around the world, and their film vividly evokes the lives of an international peasantry for whom crops are quite simply the essential life force. Stunningly photographed and edited, this exemplary documentary asks questions we should all be asking, but somehow are not.