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FAST
FOOD NATION/ FOOD FILMS/
FILM MAIN
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Dir: Richard Linklater
/ Wr: Richard Linklater, Eric Schlosser/USA-UK/2006/114mins |
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Taking his own meticulously
researched bestseller as the starting point, Eric Schlosser
(with director and co-writer Linklater) dramatises his exposé of
the junk food industry by centring it around the midwestern town
of Cody. Midsized and otherwise unremarkable, the only
distinctive thing about the town is its huge meatpacking plant,
where cynical business practices and the exploitation of illegal
Mexican migrant workers are the order of the day. Our first
impressions of the town come by way of Don Henderson, a
marketing rep for a major burger chain, sent to investigate
contamination in the company's meat supply. Pretty well everyone
he meets there has some connection with fast food, whether
working in the industry, profiting from it or protesting against
it. The ensemble nature of the film allows for some standout
performances in crucial but relatively minor roles (Bruce Willis
and Kris Kristofferson all but steal the show), whilst Greg
Kinnear's mild mannered investigator is an amiable guide. As his
eyes are opened, so too are ours. Whilst the social critique is
never strident, the inclusion of graphic scenes from the
slaughterhouse serves to press home the film's properly
subversive intentions. |
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