Fast Food Nation Review

Photographer : Livegym-Showtime

So you are out on a Saturday night and it’s nearly 4 am and the sun is starting to rise. You don’t know what is coming over you but you know one thing for sure. You DEFINITELY need some Macca’s or some form of greasy fast food now! But wait a second, isn’t there a movie out now about a fast food corporation in America which found crap in their meat patties… that’s kinda gross… Oh look, there’s the billboard for the movie, that’s right Fast Food Nation, ooh stellar cast: Bruce Willis, Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette, Wilmer Valderrama, Avril Lavigne… What? Avril Lavigne? Isn’t she a singer????

Fast forward to Monday the 25th of September and I’m now sitting in a cinema at Dendy in Newtown for a special preview of the movie which I found out about on the ActNow website. The author of the book (of the same name) and the co-screenplay writer Eric Schlosser is here to introduce the film. He stresses that it is NOT a documentary and although it has many big name actors and actresses in it, they were paid practically nothing and did it because they believed in the project and cared about the issue it was addressing. He ends with the point that he really hopes that we have all eaten dinner before coming and that we are in for a bleak truth about what will happen if the mega-powered corporations of America keep taking over… and as the motto of the film certainly rings true; “The truth is hard to swallow”. And no doubt after this screening, the audience will NOT want to digest ANYTHING for a while!

The movie opens up with an insight into the “Mickey’s” franchise, a fictional fast food corporation that is similar and based on all the McDonalds, Hungry Jacks and KFC’s that exist in our worlds. They discuss “The Big One”, their best-seller and show how the burgers smell like “the real thing” by use of chemicals and other artificial colours and flavours. We soon find out this movie is not only about the burgers but about the struggle and plight of the many Mexicans who cross the border illegally to make a dollar working in desolate and sickening settings. This is a sad reality which happens everyday and in the movie, a group of Mexicans get a job at UNP, the company where all the cows are killed and patties are made for burger production at a Mickey’s near you. One major problem though- a group of collage kids students doing an experiment found that there was shit in the burgers. Like actual cow manure. That’s pretty gruesome truth, don’t you think? Defiantly one I would not like to swallow!

I do not want to give away too much about the movie; I’m just here to urge people to go out and see it or take some action against what is happening! So many issues are raised in this movie that it really makes you think about the world we are living in. From buying into massive fast-food corporations (even if it is just on a Saturday night out) to the exploitation of workers (legal and illegal) something needs to be done as the world is getting greedier and more money hungry. As long as companies make the right amount of dollars at the end of everyday, they don’t care about how they get there as long as the job gets done.

So don’t just sit there and chew the fat (sorry I couldn’t resist), go out there and do something!!!

For more information about Fast Food Nation check out the film's special Australian site at http://www.dendyfilms.com.au/fastfoodnation/