Thaumatrope* Feature: Fast Food Nation (2006)

"There's s**t in the meat."

Following the very limited release by Fox Searchlight Pictures in theaters last fall, you may not even be aware that this movie existed. I had been anticipating it and having somehow missed it, finlly had the opportunity to view it after coming across it in the public library, of all places.

Based on the national bestselling book of the same title, Fast Food Nation (2006--Rated R) uses a fictionalized framework within which to present the factual information regarding the social and economic impact of the United State's love affair with quickly prepared, low-quality meals. Directed by Richard Linklater (of School of Rock and Before Sunset fame), from a script he wrote with the original novel's author Eric Schlosser, the sprawling narrative includes cameos by many recognizable television and movie actors and tells the story of a small Colorado community of working class Americans and illegal Mexican workers to illustrate the impact of chain restaurants and meat manufacturing plants on them, and by extension, society.

Having previously read Schlosser's book, much of my initial interest in seeing the movie was my curiosity as to how both he and Linklater could possibly adapt such a dense, scholarly book and successfully reshape it's contents into a cohesive narrative. The book screams for a documentary style film, but what is attempted is a more traditional extended ensemble piece. The final result is mixed, though the overall atmosphere and tenor of the film is consistent with the book.

Bolstered by good performance by actors whom I either had never really considered as "subtle," including Wilmer Valderrama ("That 70's Show," anyone?), Bobby Cannavale ("Will and Grace") and Greg Kinnear. The film does include many of the scenes one would expect in a movie about (literally) the s**t in our food,a situation everyone apparently knows about, but cares little to fix; scenes like a tour of processing plant, including eventually a walk through the "kill floor" and a trip to the board room executive meetings wherein corporate plans are hatched.

The movie, while being a cautionary tale of sorts, leaves we, the viewers, with little cause for hope. Characters choose complicity, are thoughtlessly maimed, or resigned to the whims of the larger corporate machine with little possibility that the ethical and social error inherent in the meat-fast food-marketing machine can ever be reversed or softened.

A heavy, well acted, thought provoking film for adults concerned with the issues discussed, and worth checking out...

Breathe in, breathe out... YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!

Historical Note: A very early version of a "magic lantern" was invented in the 17th century by Athanasius Kircher in Rome. It was a device with a lens that projected images from transparencies onto a screen, with a simple light source (such as a candle). In 1824, the Thaumatrope was invented by (the earliest version of an optical illusion toy that exploited the concept of "persistence of vision") by Dr. John Ayrton Paris.