Fast Food Nation – A Humanistic View In A Relatively Inhumane Setting

When I was young, back in Hong Kong, I used to watch my mother making fish balls. My mother would first choose the fresh fish from the wet market, bring it home, painstakingly remove the bones, marinate the meat, put it into a blender, and to make it into fish balls, she would place a serving of the paste into her palm, squeeze out the paste, and scoop it up with a spoon. It took ages to make, tasted relatively fishy, and at times I could still feel the bone fragments. Though fish balls made this way is nutritious, I would be more than happy just to grab those ready made fish balls from the supermarket if I was to cook fish ball noodle these days (before I watched this movie that is).

In a way, we all embrace the fast food culture. We value convenience and the taste of our food more than its intrinsic nutrition value. We hardly have time to think about what goes into the processed food we eat daily. “Fast Food Nation” comprises of short stories that portray the different aspects of a particular food business of turning living cattle into the burgers on our tables – a process that not many of us care to know.

My movies buddy Tong Kiat and Cynthia both have a very different view of the movie from mine. I like this movie but it doesn’t work for them. “Fast Food Nation” is not a documentary movie like “Super Size Me” nor it is a fight against a specific industry with witty script like “Thank You For Smoking”. It is a humanistic view of the culture we have and is presented in short stories that have no satisfying resolution. Co-written and directed by Richard Linklater (“Before Sunrise” and “Before Sunset” … notice that both movies have no satisfying resolution either), the script does have its brilliant moments (“Right now, I can’t think of anything more patriotic than violating the Patriot Act“) and the transition between stories is smooth. I personally love Ethan Hawke’s performance that reminded me of his “Before Sunrise” and “Before Sunset”. He is such an engaging conversationalist. Bruce Willis’s star appearance was a surprise to me (and subsequently Avril Lavigne too though her acting was less impressive) and I just love his cool acting. As he bit into a juicy burger that he knew somewhere between the process of turning cattle into pate, a fair amount of manure found its way into the burger, Bruce Willis delivered such a cool speech on why we have to make sure that the pate is cooked and just don’t fight the system. The Mexican counterparts have acted their parts well too. To me, those heart warming stories played by the Mexicans are the glue of this movie.

Fast food restaurant executives brainstorming on their next big hit, a Vice President of the fast food restaurant sent to investigate why so much manure found its way into the burger’s pate, a group of Mexicans crossed the border illegally to find a better life working in US abide being exploited in many ways, a young cashier whose dream was beyond her counter, a food packing factory that was portrayed inhuman towards both cattle as well as its Mexican employees, and a group of high school activists that believed in freeing the cattle was a first step to raise awareness on the environment hazard posted by the cattle ranches – all of which are the ingredients of “Fast Fast Nation” presented in an intertwined fashion.

There may not be a lot of money and sex in this movie, but there are certainly lots of blood in it (money, sex, and blood – the key success of movies nowadays). Be prepared for the final scene. It is gruesome. After watching “Fast Food Nation”, I personally have made an effort to stay away from processed food. I guess I have set down what I like about this movie and I also would like to point out that there are others that don’t. This movie has a mixed review so do watch it with an opened mind if you so wish to.