Fast Food Nation
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Movie Reviews of Fast Food Nation
Movie Review: fine exposé---even if the company in the film is fictional
Summary: 5 Stars
Fast Food Nation is an excellent film about the very real and highly disturbing flaws that exist in a meat packing plant that provides the beef for Mickey's, a fictional fast food chain that doesn't exactly have its act together. Not only do we see how American lives are affected by this mess, we also see how desperate and sometimes frustrated, angry young people and illegal immigrants are drawn into this situation. The movie moves along at a good pace and the acting is terrific. The casting is excellent and this is one movie I must highly recommend even with a few hard to swallow (pardon the pun) scenes at the end of the "kill floor" at the meat processing plant.
When the action begins, we meet Don Anderson (Greg Kinnear) who is a high level executive at a fast food chain company. One day Don's boss informs him that some students at a university have found that there is waste matter in the meat. Don's boss orders him to the Colorado packing plant to investigate and try to find a way out of this mess.
We also meet desperate, frightened, yet sometimes angry Mexican immigrants who were so desperate for money that they illegally crossed the border from Mexico into the US. Two or three of them wind up working at the meat packing plant in Cody, Colorado. There is Raul (Wilmer Valderrama) and Sylvia (Catalina Sandino Moreno) and we also meet Coco (Ana Claudia Talancón). There are even young kids involved in the overall plot. There is Ashley Johnson who plays Amber, a cashier at Mickey's whose conscience bothers her about working there; and there is Paul Dano who turns in a stunning performance as Brian, a kid who spits in the food routinely and dreams up schemes to steal money from the fast food restaurant.
Of course, from here the plot can go almost anywhere. What happens when one of the Mexican men is injured--badly injured at the meat processing plant? How do Silvia and Coco get along when they get into the United States? What about Don Anderson--will he be able to find a graceful way out of this mess and make everything all right after all for Mickey's, the fast food chain? Watch the movie and find out!
We also get great smaller performances from highly talented actors including Kris Kristofferson and Bruce Willis. They make the movie all the more interesting and their acting is excellent, too.
The DVD comes with a documentary entitled "The Manufacturing of Fast Food Nation;" and there are four animated shorts as well. There is a commentary by director and co-author Richard Linklater and co-author Eric Schlosser as well.
Overall, I would recommend this film for grown ups--and those of them with strong stomachs at that. There is the issue of drug use in this film; and the scenes from the "kill floor" are not exactly going to help you sleep well tonight. However, if you can handle it, Fast Food Nation is a brilliant film that even allows its viewers to draw their own conclusions and opinions about these complicated topics.
Movie Review: Devastating look at a vile industry and a sick society.
Summary: 5 Stars
The book "Fast Food Nation" truly proved the power of the word. It became a phenomenon on the New York Times Best-seller list for months, and continues to change the consciousness and the eating habits of millions of people here and abroad. My meat-loving brother-in-law started buying veggie burgers for his family after reading Eric Schlosser's powerful book. So, I had high hopes for the film version, and after reading some negative reviews, I was concerned that the director had dropped the ball. Well, the film actually turned out to be a brilliant critique of the fast food industry and the conformist culture it engenders. It touches on issues of worker exploitation, immigration, corruption, mass marketing, selling-out, workplace safety, mass marketing, the homogenization of society and much else. It is filled with excellent actors, great music, multiple interconnected narratives, and ends with a devastating look at the creation of so-called "happy meals."
Some reviewers complain of a lack of focus, or a lack of alternatives to "the meatrix." I like director Linklater's meandering style, and regarding alternatives. . . seek, and ye shall find. I created a "Listmania" entitled "The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved" that has 40 items that illustrate the need for, and ways toward, a sustainable, healthy food system. It includes Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden And Your Neighborhood into a Community and The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World. I'll be adding this DVD to the list. I feel so strongly about this film, that I mentioned it over the airwaves of a couple of talk radio stations. We can do all sorts of things to steer discussions away from what the establishment diverts us with (pro sports, celebrity scandals, etc.) and toward what the establishment hides from us (analysis of the food system, predatory corporatism, etc.).
I'm fortunate to live across the street from a "Wild Oats" grocery store that offers healthy food choices. Stores like that and Whole Foods and Trader Joes are popping up all over the country. Additionally, there's been huge growth in farmers' markets, the slow food movement, community supported agriculture projects and countless people planting their own organic gardens. So, there is a food revolution taking place, and sharing the DVD "Fast Food Nation" will help move it along. I've already purchased four additional copies from Amazon to pass around.
"Awareness is bad for the meat business. Conscience is bad for the meat business. Sensitivity to life is bad for the meat business. DENIAL, however, the meat business finds indispensable." -John Robbins, author of "Diet for a New America"
Movie Review: Good film that requires a little thought
Summary: 5 Stars
Fast Food Nation has brilliant acting and great themes strung around a loose narrative that mimics real-life. I think where it throws off some viewers is that, as in real-life, there's no apparent pay-off. The ending initially feels abrupt, and the fates of the characters unresolved. In that regards, it's essentially a slice-of-life kind of picture. You want to know more about Kinnear's character, the Mexican immigrants and the teenage girl, but you're robbed of them by story's end.
However, upon reflection, you really do get the necessary resolve, albeit not a BIG dramatic movie one. (Spoilers ahead)
Kinnear starts off with integrity, but in the end, does the practical thing and basically sells out so that he doesn't lose his job. To the character's credit, he does mention that further study is needed, but it's a deferral to someone else, passing off the buck so that he doesn't have to deal with what he's discovered. And yet, despite this, you empathize with the character, which shows us just how it is that the evil corporate machine continues unabated. Kinnear's character is no hero. But it's hard to say he's a villain either. He's ultimately weak, which is a trait that's all too common in a society beset by pressures and choosing compromise.
The Mexican girl, who up till the end, manages to maintain a measure of integrity, is suddenly forced to comprise everything, including her very person, for the sake of saving her husband after an plant-accident leaves him with hospitals bills they can't afford. Her story is the darkest and most tragic and the one the film ends on. She, in many respects, is, like the cattle, prodded and pushed to their eventual slaughter and dismemberment. Her tears at the end are for the poor creatures, herself and really all the migrant workers who are exploited by a corporate/political machine that doesn't care about them, and will use them up in the belief they're actually doing them a favor.
The teenage girl is the story's hopeful side. She yearns for a life of integrity, and is wise enough to learn the lessons imparted upon her from an uncle (who has past regrets), using it to make some courageous stances, one that fails, but one that succeeds. She leaves the film on a new life path of proactive movement, away from the trap, and with like-minded individuals.
Everything about these three characters is extremely realistic and human. It's a great film that will benefit from discussion afterwards.
Movie Review: I'll never eat meat again
Summary: 5 Stars
I just watched this DVD last night. The chilling 10 minute segment at the end turned my stomach. I cried when I saw those cows being shot in the head with the stun gun and the blood and gore spilling over the boots of the workers.
The food industry and especially the fast food industry really make me sick. They exploit people of color to do the job at a cheap price and subject these poor people to untold unsafe conditions and crappy treatment.
The thought now of eating chicken, beef or pork nauseates me. As a yogi, I should know better than eating meat. These poor animals are frightened and deservedly so when they're cornered into those rooms to be shot. I personally feel their terrified vibrations stay in that meat and we eat that. I know from being a vegetarian for many years, the less meat I ate, the less aggressive I was as a woman and I was a lot slimmer.
After watching SuperSizeMe, I realized how diabolical the food industry is. I'm going to take my no meat eating even further, only organic fruits and vegetables. I'm going to spend money on my local organic businesses rather than the large food conglomerates.
As they stated in SuperSizeMe, 1 out of every 2 kids born in 2000 will have diabetes. This is terrible! I remember when I went to Sicily in 2002 and saw rarely any heavy people! You know why? They ate an agricultural peasant diet of fresh fruits and vegetables and mostly fish. Beef, chicken and pork (in the area I toured) was an anamoly. Fast food was a rarety as it was a poor area I stayed in.
What an ironic turn of events, the poorer people of Sicily are a lot healthier than people I see here in OC who are a lot wealthier. Wealth doesn't buy you food smarts, but it does buy you a lot of dining out on overpriced foods that are full of salt, fat and additives. I really believe that the ingredients in these foods make you addicted to their foods.
After I came back from Sicily I went on a NO fast food or dining out diet. I lost 35 pounds in 3 months and saved $400.
My moral and social conscience will never allow me to buy beef, pork or chicken again. I will occasionally buy seafood, but that's it. My review is to not be preachy but I think we have to ask ourselves why are we spending money on organizations that harm others and exploit them for money and could potentially harm our children?
Movie Review: America in its glory
Summary: 5 Stars
There's a sequence near the end of this film showing the slaughter of cows that must be seen to be believed. I've been a vegetarian for quite a while and this sequence made me cry. Yeah, I'm not ashamed to say that.
From one perspective, it's easy to say that this is an ultra liberal's view of American corruption. But how much of the film is false? Do Mexicans REALLY get shipped into the US as cheap illegal labor to work in meat packing plants by a collusion of the plants and outfits like "Mickey's" (an obvious stand-in for the most well-known name in fast food hamburgers in the US)? Oh yeah. They do. Does fecal matter ACTUALLY make its way into the ground meat that gets shipped out from the plant to "Mickey's" locations all over the US? Gee. Would I be shocked if that weren't true? Do corporate executives NOT care about what the public eats as long as their company makes healthy profits? Hey, it's the American way.
Linklater redeems himself here after the dubious virtues of "A Scanner Darkly"--bigtime. This is an acid portrait of American GREED and CORRUPTION to the maximum extent possible. If you don't think twice about becoming a vegetarian--or close to one--after seeing this film, you may want to check your pulse. Do I have a certain political leaning here myself? Yep. I do.
Kris Kristofferson shows up as, surprise, a kind of good guy (sort of)--a cattle rancher who verbally blasts the meat packer he's selling his cattle to for their corrupt practices. Bruce Willis is on hand as the meat packing plant CEO who basically doesn't give a s**t about anything except his own pockets. Greg Kinnear, the main character, is a "Mickey's" marketing exec who DOES have a conscience, but ultimately...yeah, you guessed it.
The Mexicans portrayed here are so caught up in wanting to make more money (who could blame them?) that they work at a meat packing plant pulling kidneys out of dead cows, putting up with sexual abuse, and occasionally suffering horrific accidents that can leave them maimed for life.
The bottom line: America is a meat factory. And the people who make the meat will do everything and anything they need to do to insure that the meat keeps getting ground out--full of fecal matter or not. Cause that's where the money is.