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Film Review

04 December 2008 04:14 BST

Fast Food Nation

Directed by Richard Linklater, starring Patricia Arquette, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Ethan Hawke, Ashley Johnson, Avril Lavigne, running time 105 minutes, release date TBC.

In a nutshell.

Shocking. Controversial. Thought-provoking.

What's it all about?

This fictional interpretation of Eric Schlosser's international 2001 bestseller will have you seriously consider becoming a non-meat eater. Following the lives of three people involved in the fast food industry, it portrays some shocking realities about the neatly packaged burgers for sale in stores.

First up is Don Henderson (Greg Kinnear), a marketing executive at Mickey's Fast Food restaurant chain, home of "The Big One". Once it emerges that contaminated meat is entering the burgers reaching stores, he is sent to investigate at the company's main meat packing centre.

It is here that Mexican immigrants are working, risking their health and their lives for desperately needed money. Sylvia (Catalina Sandino Moreno), one of these workers, is followed as she is forced to make some heartbreaking decisions.

The final strand of the story involves Amber (Ashley Johnson), a teenager with ideals and aspiration in need of cash working in one of the chain's stores.

Morals enter the equation but are tested as the reality of surviving triumphs. Are you responsible for what your company does? Is immediate family or society as a whole more important? Hefty issues are dealt with deftly by this all-star cast.

Who's in it?

Although the main story lines focus around Kinnear (Little Miss Sunshine), Johnson (What A Girl Wants) and Moreno (Maria Full of Grace), Hollywood A-listers crop up every few minutes. Bruce Willis puts in a performance as a heartless meat dealer, Patricia Arquette a carefree mum, Ethan Hawke an inspirational uncle and Avril Lavigne a campaigning student desperate to make a difference.

As an example…

"It's not about good people or bad people, it's about the machine that runs America."

Likelihood of a trip to the Oscars

It would be hard to pick out an individual performance for praise – the film is such a montage of various characters and how they relate to a larger problem that strong, outstanding performances fail to emerge. Awards for directing and production are also likely to be lacking –the meat is in the message, not how it's told.

What the others say

"Though the fictional straitjacket doesn’t really work, this movie fairly hums with Schlosser’s rage and Don becomes an emblem of the silences that keep the American Dream alive for the winners… brutal, unforgettable film-making." – Jonathan Dawson, ABC

"Effectively balanced between the non-fiction muckraking of Eric Schlosser's bestselling expose and the loosely structured character drama of Richard Linklater's adaptation, the film is fascinating food for thought." – Minneapolis Star Tribune

So is it any good?

With authentic footage from the slaughterhouse, this is unpleasant viewing. Although an unenjoyable film to watch, the issues in it are certainly worth considering. But as the film finishes you are left with the same despair as the characters in the film – are there any answers to the questions posed in the film?

Performances vary and accomplished characterisation never takes places due to the snapshot nature of the film. In its attempts to draw issues together across such a vast cast, the task seems too great. Storylines are dropped and numerous issues crop up which remained unanswered or unsolved. But then perhaps that is Linklater's overall aim – to show the futility of individual's desire for change in the face of corporate, faceless 21st century society.

Harrowing, noble and shocking, Fast Food Nation will have you contemplating its issues for days.

6/10

Carolyn Robertson

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