America the Beautiful is a new documentary gaining buzz and audience because of its soft but sure confrontation of a very tragic problem in the U.S.—our obsession with the concept of physical beauty. This film is an eye-opening experience full of sad truth and hilarious tragedy. No doubt the majority of the screening audience left the theater in sober discourse, righteous anger, and an overwhelming feeling of helplessness.

Director Darryl Roberts tackles this proverbial elephant in the room by taking us on a journey beginning with his own search for the "perfect" woman. In the Q&A after the film screening, he explained that he ended two long-term relationships with women who were in his words "beautiful" (internally) because he always felt he would find someone else just like them, but more physically attractive.

In retrospect, Roberts realizes that he squandered two wonderful marriage opportunities, briefly lamenting over the possibility that he might never find love like that again. And in response to these events in his life, he decided to investigate, interviewing over 200 women, ages 13-64, as well as fashion moguls, media and magazine executives, and others involved in image-conscious industries, on the subjects of beauty, image, and the perfect body. The result was hundreds of hours of footage from which America the Beautiful emerged—a documentary that asks, "Does America have an unhealthy obsession with beauty?"

In a country where skinny fashion models and picture-perfect celebrities are revered as gods and heroes, an independent documentary about the fallacy of it all demands some attention. This movie reminds us of our unwitting infatuation with this false concept of physical perfection. As we glance through magazines, walk down a city street, sit on the couch, in the theater—we are told to worship the American ideal and pinnacle of "beauty."

We may never find ourselves literally bowing or raising our hands to the gods of celebrity and fashion, but in our undying quest to shed pounds, increase our bust-size, have the perfect skin and waistline, and gain a six-pack of abs, we give a piece of our minds over to the idea of physical perfection. We no longer carve idols and statues to worship, but we worship the superficial with our time, our money, our intentions, and goals.

Doesn't it make sense that Jesus Christ tells his people to store up their treasure in that which is eternal? Rather than the temporal, superficial, and meaningless? Last time I checked, we all age, we all die. Yes, it's wise and beneficial to live a healthy lifestyle both physically and spiritually, and there are sensible ways of preserving our bodies. But at what price? This is nothing new, but are we fooling ourselves into wasting our years in selfish and unhealthy physical preservation, obsessed with our beauty? All the while, forgetting to use our God-given beauty manifested in our giving, selflessness, and talents.

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