Fast Food Nation is a movie based on a novel of the same
title by Eric Schlosser. I haven't actually read the book so I will not
be comparing them both here today.
To start with I initially was expecting a documentary like
Super Size Me; however Fast Food Movie is more of a drama based on typical events
rather than an in-depth look at the underbelly of the American fast food
industry.
The movie follows a group of illegal immigrants who have
paid lots of money to be taken across the border and given the chance of a
better life and wage in America. Upon
arriving in America it soon becomes evident that all is not as it seems, they
are all forced to share a small hotel room whilst the owner of the meat
facility chooses who he thinks is good enough to work for him. He is aggressive and threatening and doesn’t
give a damn about these people, so much for the American Dream huh!
Meanwhile there is a small problem for the giant
fast food retailer Mickey’s. Samples of
their burgers have been tested by a popular university; the trouble is that
there is a shocking amount of animal excrement found in the meat. What could possibly be the problem?
With the launch of a new range of burgers on the horizon, how
are Mickey’s going to address this problem?
After all, would you still go to a burger joint if you were told that there
was cow dung in the burgers?
Speaking of burger joints, we do see some glimpses of what
life is like for the counter staff at a fast food outlet. Naturally the low pay of jobs such as this attracts
people who shall we say, are a bit stupid or with no other job prospects.
There are brief but none the less important references to how
the mass marketing of burgers is such big business. McDonalds and Burger King are paying millions
of dollars to get brand association with companies such as Disney. Nagging power is the number one sure fire way
to get burgers sold, promise the kids a free toy, who will in turn, nag the
parents until they are taken.
This is certainly a compelling movie and with the recent
outbreaks Foot and Mouth here in the UK as well as a rise in immigrants
fulfilling our cheap labour vacancies, could we see the same thing happening
over here? Or is it already
happening? After all a litre of cow’s
milk is legally allowed to contain something like a billion cells of pus, so how
much cow crap do the government allow McDonalds to have in their burgers I
wonder?
Whilst not outstanding in any particular area this is not actually
a bad film. I do think perhaps it might’ve
been better as a documentary rather than a drama. I also thought that there was too much focus
on the illegal immigrants and not enough about why the meat is dirty as well as
the awful conditions the cows are being kept in.
The performances of the whole cast was pretty good, with
only a brief spot from Bruce Willis there is no real super star ego to get in
the way of the story. I do quite like a
film where a cast is picked for the film, rather than a Hollywood star picking
a movie they want to do.
The extra’s on this disc were pretty insignificant, a cinema
trailer and some conversations with the writer and director.
Visually this DVD is ok; there are some quite dark scenes
which obviously make it hard to see what’s happening. Maybe some of you with high contrast ratio TV’s
will have better luck than me!
Audio wise, again, ok but with some muffled sound and
subtitles added further distraction to the film.
Overall a movie I think worth watching, especially if you do
eat meat and go to fast food outlets!
Fellow veggies out there will already know a lot of what
this film has to say, but you may find it a good reminder as to why you went
veggie in the first place!