In recent years, public health has taken aim at sugary beverages, the pleasurable drinks clever media campaigns have led consumers to associate with happiness. On the surface, the issue is understood as one of personal will and motivation. Decreasing—or better yet, eliminating—our consumption of these empty calories is associated with decreased risk of diabetes and certain cancers, as well as decreased incidence of tooth decay. This may seem to call for a simple behavioral change, but lowering sugary beverage consumption is a goal laden with economic, social, and even racial undertones, ripe for analysis and debate. Karen Akins, a former activist who first encountered the ruinous effects of diabetes in Mexico as a medical mission volunteer in 2008, takes on this complexity in her first documentary, El Susto, using Mexico as a case study.

Akins blends multiple perspectives, using narration to thread across interviews, footage of daily life, celebrations,...

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