 "Photo: courtesy Fox Searchlight")
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Sick. Disgusting. Filthy. Cheap. Phony. These words not only describe fast food, but the corporate America that the gritty political film "Fast Food Nation" exposes. The film opens with a scene in a fast food chain that closely resembles the ever so popular McDonald's but bears the name "Mickey's."
People are there eating with a smile, quickly devouring the "Big One," blissfully ignorant to what they're putting into their mouths. To avoid any legal issues, the film came up with the name Mickey's for the fast food chain that is the focus of the film.
Like the well-known chains, such as McDonald's and Burger King, they too have meals with names invented by money making marketers. The "Big One" appears to be McDonalds' version of the Big Mac, which bares another subtle meaning. Their version of the Kid's Meal is called the "Itty Bitty." Although they bare different names, the Mickey's Meal is all too familiar.
To boost the appeal for audiences, Eric Schlosser, the muckraking
journalist and author of the best-selling book "Fast Food Nation," adapted the screenplay to take on a more fictionalized, narrative form rather than a
political documentary.
The story ties together the lives of several people in the town of Cody, Colorado, affected by and actively involved in the Mickey's empire. One character, a Mickey's marketing director played by Greg Kinnear ("Little Miss Sunshine"), is sent to Cody to investigate the recent discovery of cow feces in their meat. Another, a Mickey's cashier played by Ashley Johnson ("Growing Pains"), realizes the disadvantages of working in a fast food chain. Other characters include illegal Mexican laborers played by Wilmer Valderrama ("That 70's Show) and Catalina Sandino Moreno ("Maria Full of Grace") working in a hazardous meat-packing plant that supplies Mickey's. The acting was mediocre at best. Kinnear's performance topped all others.
There were surprising cameos by Bruce Willis, who played the part of a meat supplier who doesn't mind if there's "a little shit in the meat," and Ethan Hawke as the liberal uncle against uniformity.
The most amusing cameo was that of Avril Lavigne, who played an activist college student. Hawke's character came off a bit overly preachy, and Lavigne I pray will venture only within the confines of the music business. But Willis's tough-guy persona worked out great in representing capitalist America.
Although Schlosser and director Richard Linklater ("A Scanner Darkly") wanted to present the issue from different perspectives, it may have been more effective and less muddled if it was presented through the lives of the two main groups - the marketing director of Mickey's and the illegal aliens working in the plant. Because there were so many characters and sub-plots, no one was really given much screen time, so character development was minimal.
Then again, the real purpose of the film was to raise awareness of a
disgusting trend in America. Lazy and cheap: the pride of this nation. We're too cheap to hire legal citizens, so we hire the hoard of illegal aliens that crosses the border daily, free from responsibility and liability, and train them so poorly that cow feces manage to wind up in the meat. Of course the
executives don't mind as long as the labor remains cheap because their burgers continue making them a fortune, and nobody finds out. Unfortunately for them, their dark secret has leaked.
"Fast Food Nation" exposes the dark side of the all-American meal with plenty of graphic images. It wasn't the most pleasant film to sit through. While the final scene of the "kill floor" in the meat-packing plant was disturbing on several levels, not every scene was filled with such explicit images.
The subject matter was the most unsettling. Every scene shot in the meat-packing factory caused a build up of anxiety, knowing there was inevitably going to be a graphic display of someone getting injured in such a death-trap. However sickening the film may be, it added to its effectiveness in spotlighting a problem that's in dire need of attention. It has to scare people in order to grab their attention.
Sex, lies and violence - this film has enough to satisfy the typical
American just as a McDonald's Big Mac does. It lacked real emotional force and talent, leaving the pay-off to be weak. For those who have weak constitutions, this film isn't suggested (unless by tolerating some scenes with the occasional eye-covering.) Watch the film because it's an important political film, not because of a need for emotional awe.
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