'A Cruel Kindness' begins in a playground,
comparing two children on the verge of obesity. The home life of
one, Ronnie Brown, is shown: both his mother and father are
overweight, family mealtimes are a feast of stodgy treats, and both
work and leisure are sedentary activities. Overweight children are
at risk of a lifetime of ill-health, and the film lays the blame
for childhood obesity clearly on mothers who over-feed their
children.
The film addresses the idea of 'glands' or
'puppy fat' causing obesity, as well as genetic determinism ('we
are fat people, that's all there is to it,' says Ronnie's mother)
before dismissing them and making the case that a healthy weight
can be gained from exercise and a balanced diet. The disadvantages
of obesity reach beyond health: a third child Valerie, suffers from
social exclusion and isolation because of her weight.
'A Cruel Kindness' might seem both simplistic
and moralistic by today's standards in largely blaming mothers and
family for obesity rather than media-dominated lifestyles or
packaged food. But mothers are clearly the film's intended
audience, not only for the nutritional information, but also for a
moral message about childcare. At the end of the film, the GP
addresses mothers directly, telling them that 'it's a cruel
kindness to let your children eat too much'.
Director Winifred Holmes had a varied career
as a poet, documentarist and journalist. Her interest in nutrition
and food was not restricted to this film: during the second world
war she worked on the BBC Home Service's 'The Kitchen Front',
developing healthy recipes from limited wartime ingredients.