Fast Food Nation

Director: Richard Linklater

Starring: Greg Kinnear, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Bruce Willis, Luis Guzmán

Fast Food Nation was originally a non fiction book by Eric Schlosser. This book is a damn good read, and guaranteed to work better than any diet under the sun, as it’s a sure fire way to make you never want to go within an inch of a Big Mac ever again. It is chemical pumped meat, uses subliminal advertising geared towards toddlers, and employs illegal immigrant workers in dangerous meat rendering factories to name but a few reasons.

The film tells a number of different stories to show the wide reach of how many are affected by the fast food industry. Greg Kinnear (Robots, The Matador, We Were Soldiers) plays Don Anderson, an advertising executive responsible for The Big One, the latest burger success at Mickey's (the fictional fast food chain at the centre of the film, i.e. McDonalds, oops! maybe shouldn’t have said that). He must investigate reports that there are significant traces of cow manure in the meat (nice!).

Ashley Johnson plays Amber, a teenage Mickey's employee who juggles school and work while she begins to see her role in the corporate machine. Wilmer Valderrama and Catalina Sandino Moreno play Raul and Sylvia, two Mexican illegal immigrants who have been brought into the United States specifically to work at the rendering plant that manufactures the millions of ‘patties’ that become The Big One.

Co-witten by Eric Schlosser and Richard Linklater, and directed by Linklater (A Scanner Darkly, Before Sunset and School of Rock), Fast Food Nation really humanizes the global issues and rightfully earns the title ‘The most essential political film from an American director since Michael Morre’s Fahrenheit 9/11’ –The New York Times.

You certainly won’t be rushing out for another burger any time soon!

Darren Bastyan