'General Tso' shines light on culture and chicken.

Byline: Jeffrey Long

'The Search for General Tso'

Distributed by Sundance Selects

Rating: NR

Running Time: 1 hour, 11 minutes

The new documentary "The Search for General Tso'' does not really involve military reconnaissance. But it does involve America's ongoing Poultry Wars -- those intense campaigns waged for decades by the opposing forces of General Tso and Colonel Sanders (among others), to win over consumers' hearts and stomachs.

Pursuant to its title's stated mission, the film immediately convoys us to numerous encampments occupied by General Tso's troops -- restaurateurs, food critics, authors and even a hoarder of Chinese eatery memorabilia. We do not find the General, but do meet men and women who fight the good fight daily behind storefront banners emblazoned with "Jade Palace,'' "Golden Dragon,'' or "House of Peking Duck.''

We visit lonely mom-and-pop food stands on the prairie, garrish food courts in suburbia, and elegant restaurants in cities like New York City and San Francisco. Then we hop onto a jet to interview master chefs in Shanghai.

This movie engagingly exposes us to culinary ideas that transcend food culture -- ideas that include historical aspects of society, politics, and (yes) the military. For example, we are reminded that, not long before President Nixon was consumed by Watergate, he was in China consuming water chestnuts, in hands-across-the-dinner-table diplomacy that became a godsend for just about any struggling U.S. eatery serving chop suey or moo goo gai pan.

Generally sweet in its content and flavor, this film also carries within it an unmistakably sour undertaste. It speaks of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which resulted in generations of would-be immigrants being denied admittance into our country. Even after that law's revocation (and especially after the later establishment of a Communist regime in China in 1949), Chinese-Americans faced bigotry and violence.

Graphics depict how droves of Chinese fled hateful attitudes encountered in California, only to start laundries...