The Observer, November 17, 2006
Volume XXXIX, Issue 11
Cows treated mercilessly in Fast Food Nation
For his new project, Richard Linklater, the director who brought us Dazed and Confused, School of Rock, and A Scanner Darkly, has decided to translate Eric Schlosser's controversial fast food culture exposé, Fast Food Nation, to film. Fast Food Nation follows the stories of illegal Mexican immigrants, corporate executives, and small-town youths as they are all brought together by corrupt meat moguls.
The movie begins with a marketing executive (played by Greg Kinnear) for Micky's Fast Food being sent to a small town in Colorado to find out why there are feces in the meat. In the meantime, Mexicans are hopping the border and dying along the way just to make it up the Colorado meat plant to find jobs. The jobs that they receive are frightening and extremely dangerous. Many workers lose limbs, but the most disturbing part is that they are untrained, forced to work on the killing and gutting floors where the most accidents and contamination can occur. All the while America's youth is doing its part to contribute to the problem: teenagers working in the Micky chains spit in the burgers, plan to rob the restaurants, and otherwise contribute to the unhygienic atmosphere of the brand.
This movie takes us into a dark, twisted place within the American corporate world. The current meat industry is juxtaposed to the railroad companies of the past – corrupt, dangerous, and thieving. Kris Kristofferson plays a rancher fighting to keep his land while the big bad meat companies try to run him out of business.
The issue of illegal immigration is also brought up in Fast Food Nation. Wilmer Valderrama (of That '70s Show fame) delivers a surprising performance as a hopeful young Mexican who turns to drugs, all the while trying to survive his horrific job. Catalina Sandino Moreno (from Maria Full of Grace) plays an innocent martyr, caught in a corrupt world, not unlike the role which shot her to stardom. Valderrama's wife is forced to make serious sacrifices due to his missteps.
All these intertwining stories aside, the main focus of Fast Food Nation is the meat. Fast Food Nation displays a lot of the unappetizing things that occur within meat packaging plants – everything from the mistreatment of cattle to the conveyor belt of meat parts where a foreman scolds a line worker for allowing Grade A meat to be made into the burgers. Even the more sanitary procedures look disgusting in Fast Food Nation. But Linklater doesn't spare his viewers any details. This film comes fully equipped with a montage on the killing floor of the meat plant. In a scene that can only be described as more grotesque than any slasher flick, we are shown the process of killing and cleaning cows – everything from hanging them upside down while they are still alive to gutting. If you have a weak stomach or a particular fondness for living creatures, stay away. Or for that matter, if you have a particular affinity for beef, you'd best avoid this frank movie.
All this controversial material is brightened by carefully placed jokes that are brilliantly delivered by this very random star-studded cast. Avril Lavigne, Ethan Hawke, Bruce Willis, and Patricia Arquette all make appearances. The script, though different from the book, perfectly captures the sense of hopelessness of the fast food and meat industries. In the end, will it be money or dignity? Either way, after watching Fast Food Nation, you'll think twice before eating fast food, let alone meat.
