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Review #318 of 365
Movie Review of Fast Food Nation (2006) [R] 118 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $13.00
Where Viewed: Landmark Mayan, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 25 November 2006
Time: 9:35 p.m.
Film's Official Website
DVD Release Date: unscheduled
Directed by: Richard Linklater (A Scanner Darkly)
Written by: Richard Linklater (A Scanner Darkly) and Eric Schlosser based on the book, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Wilmer Valderrama ("That '70s Show") • Catalina Sandino Moreno (Paris, je t'aime) • Greg Kinnear (Invincible) • Frank Ertl (The Return) • Michael D. Conway (Infamous) • Mitch Baker (Idiocracy) • Luis Guzmán (School for Scoundrels) • Bobby Cannavale (The Night Listener) • Ashley Johnson ("Growing Pains") • Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine) • Patricia Arquette ("Medium") • Glen Powell Jr (Jumping Off Bridges) • Kris Kristofferson (Blade: Trinity) • Bruce Willis (Lucky Number Slevin) • Ethan Hawke (Lord of War) • Aaron Himelstein ("Joan of Arcadia") • Avril Lavigne (Over the Hedge) • Marco Perella (The King) • Lou Taylor Pucci (Thumbsucker)
Soundtrack: order the CD below
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
If seen and comprehended by the vast majority of the 17 to 25-year old population of the USA, Fast Food Nation could have an impact similar to that of Rachel Carson's earth-changing Silent Spring
. Ms Carson's book is credited with launching the environmental movement, and is not inconceivable that Eric Schlosser's similar book and now film could re-ignite the same passions while taking them a step further. Historically, the Western world has been playing catch-up with the East as it comes to long-term, global, systems thinking. There was a time when "the solution to pollution is dilution" was the mantra of all Western industrialized nations. Not so anymore, though weakened substantially in the USA in the past six years under the Republican-controlled government, most of the industrialized world now understands that the earth's ecosystem acts like a giant terrarium. Sure, we can put out millions of tons of clorofluorocarbons into our atmosphere hoping to dilute them of zillions of tons of air; but guess what, they don't just disappear, they destroy the ozone that is an important barrier to the harmful ultraviolet radiation that bombards our planet from space. It is actually quite stunning and sad, that it takes such drastic consequences as the potential for global flooding of the world's most populous regions to wake people up to the very simple fact that Ms Carson brings out in her book so elegantly. Every thing we do to or take from our environment has a ripple effect of unexpected consequences. Therefore, it behooves us to act with tremendous foresight, monitor the effects closely and carefully, and make immediate changes to our habits. As the fastest multiplying, most wide-spread, most globally impacting species on the planet we absolutely must behold the wonder of our world and guard closely against any threat to the balances of the cycles in place.
. Ms Carson's book is credited with launching the environmental movement, and is not inconceivable that Eric Schlosser's similar book and now film could re-ignite the same passions while taking them a step further. Historically, the Western world has been playing catch-up with the East as it comes to long-term, global, systems thinking. There was a time when "the solution to pollution is dilution" was the mantra of all Western industrialized nations. Not so anymore, though weakened substantially in the USA in the past six years under the Republican-controlled government, most of the industrialized world now understands that the earth's ecosystem acts like a giant terrarium. Sure, we can put out millions of tons of clorofluorocarbons into our atmosphere hoping to dilute them of zillions of tons of air; but guess what, they don't just disappear, they destroy the ozone that is an important barrier to the harmful ultraviolet radiation that bombards our planet from space. It is actually quite stunning and sad, that it takes such drastic consequences as the potential for global flooding of the world's most populous regions to wake people up to the very simple fact that Ms Carson brings out in her book so elegantly. Every thing we do to or take from our environment has a ripple effect of unexpected consequences. Therefore, it behooves us to act with tremendous foresight, monitor the effects closely and carefully, and make immediate changes to our habits. As the fastest multiplying, most wide-spread, most globally impacting species on the planet we absolutely must behold the wonder of our world and guard closely against any threat to the balances of the cycles in place.
"…Fast Food Nation could have an impact similar to that of Rachel Carson's earth-changing Silent Spring."
Fast Food Nation serves as a wake-up call to those people who have grown complacent in their older age after serving as activists in the post Silent Spring era, and to the next generations of young people who are destined to inherit an even more complicated and potentially poisonous world. As young people today sit around watch their "Laguna Beach" and "OC" and "MTV's Real World", worry about getting a car to cruise around town, preoccupy themselves with their after school stops at the fast food restaurants to hang out, they may be oblivious to the impacts their 99-cent hamburger consumption is having on the world and their souls. The film powerfully illustrates three detrimental aspects of a Fast Food Nation-lifestyle using the lives of three main characters: Raul (Wilmer Valderrama)—an illegal immigrant from Mexico who arrives with girlfriend in tow along with a crew of other immigrants who are transported at great expense to towns in Colorado and helped to get jobs that most USAers do not care to hold. In this case, Raul is employed quickly by the town of Cody, Colorao's largest employer, a gigantic, fictional meat-packing plant; Amber (Ashley Johnson)—a teenage girl with a single-parent mother who lives in Cody and must work at Mickey's (a huge hamburger chain) to help make ends meet like paying her car insurance at home; and Don Anderson (Greg Kinnear)—the CEO of Marketing for Mickey's who is instructed by the president of the company to go to Cody, CO and investigate how fecal matter could be turning up in the burgers from the meat packing plant from which Mickey's buys every, single one of its "Biggie Burgers". These interlocking stories highlight a huge number of societal and environmental problems associated with the simple act of going to a fast food restaurant and buying a big, hot, juicy hamburger beginning with the low-wages earned by the Mickey's employees despite huge corporate profits to dangerous working conditions in the meat packing plants where workers routinely lose fingers and even limbs, to the political games behind keeping the meat packing plant operating despite the many problems (such as running the lines too quickly for the intestines to be removed properly thereby allowing fecal matter to end up in the burgers), to the final and inevitable confrontation with the slaughter of the cows in the first place. I have always been told that the easiest way to become an instantaneous vegetarian is to visit a slaughterhouse for cattle. Cattle? What is the origin of that word anyway? Fact it, these are cows, and while I don't mean to turn this review into a plea for vegetarianism, I am not going to lie or sugarcoat the reality of this process which involved jolting the cows heads with a blast of electricity to stun them (sort of like a giant tazer), and then hooking their back legs up to chains and suspending them upside down so when their throats are slit, all of the blood just starts to run right out. Yes, it is a gruesome and horrible sight to see, and one that I found myself unable to watch completely through. When all of these social and moral issues, however, are combined into one interlocking puzzle, it becomes even easier to see that this is something that has got to stop. One of the main things the film fails to remind people, and it's one of the most powerful statistics against the hamburger production in the USA and that is that the USA grows an astonishing quantity of grain each year. It is enough, according to experts, to feed most of the entire world, but 80% of that grain is fed to cows. The size and terribly inefficient digestive system of cows, makes them one of the world's worst polluting animals (other than human beings and through now fault of their own) emitting kilotons of methane gas and solid waste per day. The film suggests that the fictional, world's largest cow pens outside Cody, produce more solid waste and urine every day than the entire city of Denver, which is then put into ponds where the materials eventually seep into the river. The meat packing plant may be fictional for purposes of this film, but meat-packing plants, in general, are not. The hamburger and steaks have to come from somewhere.
While the film comes across as one part documentary and one part mockumentary, the other two parts are more Hollywood-esque. It's unclear why the travails of Mike (Bobby Cannavale), a man of Mexican heritage who helps get jobs for the illegal aliens has sex with every woman on the meat packing line even needs to be a part of this film. It is, in all likelihood, however, what helped get the film a solid R rating. In fact, the way in which the illegal alien issue is addressed in the film seems disjointed from the rest of the plot as connected as it might be a the core. The illegal aliens are made out to look very bad in the film, and this film could be co-opted by people who are out to deport all immigrants from the nation as fuel for their fire—an unexpected and disappointing side-effect for the way their story is handled by the writer and director. The acting in the film is solid, nothing incredible. The roles were crafted and the dialog was written to prove social and environmental points so there is a surface shallowness to them. Attempts are made, such as the introduction of Amber's uncle (Ethan Hawke) who helps motivate her to do something significant with her life and follow her passion leading her to quit Mickey's and become an environmental activist, to help add more substance to some of the characters. By and large, however, most of the characters end up throwing up their hands in the face of the huge problems. The most notable of these was Don Anderson who, after a drawn out confrontation over Fat Tire Beers at Bear Rock Café (I guess Fast Food Nation producers were not above product placement) with Harry Rydell (Bruce Willis) decides there's no way he can take on Mickey's over what he has learned to be gross negligence in the production of the meat they are using for their most popular burgers.
So, ultimately, the film has many, many strengths, and if it can motivate the current generation of future activists to consider radical changes in the lifestyle and consumption within the USA, then it is a winner and worth over-looking some of these other not-so-great aspects of the film.
While the film comes across as one part documentary and one part mockumentary, the other two parts are more Hollywood-esque. It's unclear why the travails of Mike (Bobby Cannavale), a man of Mexican heritage who helps get jobs for the illegal aliens has sex with every woman on the meat packing line even needs to be a part of this film. It is, in all likelihood, however, what helped get the film a solid R rating. In fact, the way in which the illegal alien issue is addressed in the film seems disjointed from the rest of the plot as connected as it might be a the core. The illegal aliens are made out to look very bad in the film, and this film could be co-opted by people who are out to deport all immigrants from the nation as fuel for their fire—an unexpected and disappointing side-effect for the way their story is handled by the writer and director. The acting in the film is solid, nothing incredible. The roles were crafted and the dialog was written to prove social and environmental points so there is a surface shallowness to them. Attempts are made, such as the introduction of Amber's uncle (Ethan Hawke) who helps motivate her to do something significant with her life and follow her passion leading her to quit Mickey's and become an environmental activist, to help add more substance to some of the characters. By and large, however, most of the characters end up throwing up their hands in the face of the huge problems. The most notable of these was Don Anderson who, after a drawn out confrontation over Fat Tire Beers at Bear Rock Café (I guess Fast Food Nation producers were not above product placement) with Harry Rydell (Bruce Willis) decides there's no way he can take on Mickey's over what he has learned to be gross negligence in the production of the meat they are using for their most popular burgers.
So, ultimately, the film has many, many strengths, and if it can motivate the current generation of future activists to consider radical changes in the lifestyle and consumption within the USA, then it is a winner and worth over-looking some of these other not-so-great aspects of the film.
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
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Other Projects Featuring Fast Food Nation (2006)
Cast Members
Wilmer Valderrama
• Greg Kinnear • Frank ErtlMitch Baker
• Luis Guzmán • Bobby CannavalePaul Dano
• Patricia Arquette • Kris KristoffersonHugo Perez
• Bruce Willis • Ethan HawkeAaron Himelstein
• Avril Lavigne • Marco PerellaDirector
Richard Linklater
Writer
Eric Schlosser
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Fast Food Nation (2006) Review-lite [150-word cap]
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1 comment:
just watched Fast Food Nation, it's impactful to say the least... earlier today i passed up a sausage mcmuffin because of it.
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