Fast Food Nation is a movie that deals with the American Fast Food Industry. At first, on reading the title, I figured this would be a take on the health aspect of fast food, how it leads to health problems such as obesity, cardiovascular diseases etc. That is not the case. The movie infact deals with the meat packing companies that supply meat products to the fast food industry. It is neccessary to point out here that most of American fast food is categorized as non vegetarian.
The movie's storyline revolves around 5 characters namely, a mexican illegal immigrant couple, a fast food company marketing vice president, a supervisor in a meat packing factory and a employee at the a fast food joint. It shows the gruesome production line, the cow slaughter, how illegal untrained immigrants are made to work with hazardous equipment and the unhygenic nature of the final product and how the management basically ignores it due to internal company politics or ignorance.
To be frank, I didnt quite understand what issue was the movie trying to talk about? It talked about a range of topics from cattle farming to meat hygiene, from illegal immigration to their exploitation.
My main problem with the movie is it did not make its case. Sure, the companies speed up production line to increase production at the cost of hygene, sure they exploit illegal mexican immigrants, but is that any different from what the other big companies do in the name of competition? I am not a big meat fan, or beef or fish fan for that matter, but i was unconvinced about the movie. I feel the movie relied heavily on shock value of the cows getting butchered and that is very dissapointing. Extensive research and a good script can put across the same point to the public in a better manner.
Everybody realises that animals are slaughtered commercially to feed billions worldwide daily. It was indeed neccessary to bring the subject to people's attention. But the movie didn't quite achieve what it hoped to achieve. In recent times hollywood movies have handled issues such as politics, racism, POW from afghanistan with deep insight. This movie failed to live upto my expectations.
In conclusion I would give the movie 4/10.
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just watched Fast Food Nation, it's an impactful flick to say the least... earlier today i passed up a sausage mcmuffin because of it. Evidently it is worth passing up fast food for more than health reasons.