Dervish

Abu Yasmin and I went and saw Fast Food Nation on the weekend. The book is better than the movie, I have to say. I’d read the book a year or so ago, and became horrified at the business practices of these mega-corporations. The movie, however, was a bit too preachy for my liking.

It tells the story of fictional unethical fast-food chain “Mickeys” that has found a cash-cow (no pun intended) in its popular burger “The Big One”. The meat is sourced, however, from a meat-packing company that uses Mexicans who have crossed the border illegally in search of a better life (but who have instead found exploitation), and is not too fussy if faeces flavours the food.

Some big names are in this movie, but I felt like I was watching the Christian channel on cable, being constantly preached at. I don’t think the movie works as ‘fiction’. Having seen Eric Schlosser interviewed, he can make the point in a half-hour interview much better.

Having said that, the final scene in particular is particularly good (although not for the faint-hearted) and is enough to make the most hardened carnivore into a veggie.

[tags]Fast Food Nation, movie review, McDonalds, capitalism, exploitation, slave labour[/tags]

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.