Directed by: Richard Linklater
Premise: The film is a fictionalized adaptation of
writer Richard Scholsser’s expose on the fast food industry. The story follows
multiple interweaving storylines. A public relations executive (Greg Kinnear)
for a major fast food burger franchise investigates allegations of tainted meat
from a slaughter house, while a group of Mexicans illegally cross into America
to work at the factory and face exploitation from a brutish shift leader
(Francisco Rosales), and a young woman (Ashley Johnson) working at one of the
restaurants begins to develop a social consciousness.
What Works: Fast Food Nation is an extremely
well done ensemble piece. Like Crash, Syriana,
and Babel,
the film cuts between multiple interrelated storylines but Fast Food Nation is more limited in its number of stories and those stories are more closely
related than these other films. As a result, the juxtaposition of these stories
is more powerful as the links between them are more focused. Also like these
other films, Fast Food Nation is a piece of overt political
entertainment; it has a point of view on the subject matter but for the most
part the film allows that point to be made through the unfolding drama rather
than constantly hitting it over the head. There are some excellent performances
in the film, particularly by Johnson as a high school student who is transformed
by the power of information, and by Kinnear as a public relations executive who
is forced to confront some nasty truths about his business.
What Doesn’t: The story of Kinnear’s character
gets shortened in the end and his realization does not come at any cost to him
personally or professionally. There is a sense that he has become disillusioned
with his job, but there is no real conclusion to his story, it just ends. Also,
although most of the film makes its points subtly through inference, the final
images of the film, of cattle being executed in the slaughter house, seem tagged
on for shock effect.
DVD Pick: Commentary track, featurette, short
animation films, and photo gallery.
Bottom Line: Fast Food Nation is an
extraordinary film and a very interesting attempt to adapt a nonfiction book to
the screen. The film is very successful at what it attempts to do both
rhetorically and dramatically.