Fast Food Nation: A Review

To be completely honest, the movie Fast Food Nation left me feeling disappointed. I feel that the movie was clearly biased against fast food industries, and that the arguments from the movie lost considerable momentum as a result of the biased director. I have a sneaking suspicion however, that the book upon which the movie was based would be far more convincing than the movie itself, and that the arguments and accusations leveled against such fast food industries would be far better supported. I am extremely skeptical about the conditions of slaughterhouses as portrayed in that movie. I have trouble believing that the cows are eviscerated, disemboweled, and finally killed. Why on earth would any mentally stable person go through the trouble of torturing their bovine victims in such an elaborately gruesome manner? It is not in the farmer’s best interest to inflict as much pain as is humanly possible (an impression one would naturally get were he or she to only watch the movie Fast Food Nation), a farmer sees the cows as money, not victims, it is in a farmer’s best interest to simply be done with the business as quickly as possible; the cattle’s value is a monetary one, not an emotional one. Overall, I found that the most believable part in the movie was that there were incredibly high levels of feces in the pulverized hamburger meat (I do not know whether that says more about my skepticism or the movie’s believability). I feel that it always weakens a documentary considerably if it is clearly portrayed with a distinct bias towards one side. I shall remain skeptical until I am presented with unequivocal evidence that conditions in slaughterhouses are indeed as gruesome and gory as they were portrayed in Fast Food Nation. I shall refrain from believing until I am given proof that when one walks into a killing room he is “ankle deep in blood”.
Aside from the melodrama taking place in the slaughter house, the movie documented the lives of Mexican immigrants coming to the United States and trying to begin a new life. In my opinion, this was a far more interesting parallel plot to follow. The Mexicans’ tales brought to light many social issues associated with the risks of illegal immigration. The administration within the slaughterhouse was rife with corruption, the desperate measures to which the immigrants had to resort were, in my opinion, far more disturbing than any scene from the slaughterhouse. The mental anguish and familial tension illustrated by the immigrants’ tales were emotionally devastating, and were far more effective at tugging that the heartstrings of the audience.