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So on one level, the film is about much more than just fast food; in a statement that fits rather nicely with the Gnostic undertones of some of Linklater's earlier films, Kristofferson's rancher explains that the issue facing us is "not about good people versus bad people. It's about the machine that's taking over our country." This theme is echoed later when Amber tells her boss, "This place, it doesn't feel real."

Ashley Johnson as a disillusioned teen working at Mickey's burger joint

Unfortunately, however, Linklater pulls his punches, by focusing so narrowly on the meat aspect of fast food; at times the film threatens to become a mere animal rights tract. In its final moments, the film depicts the actual stunning and slaughter of cows, but without any of the problems that the film has spelled out for us (e.g., we never see the meat get contaminated by feces leaking out of the intestines). It is as though the film expects us to be shocked not only because, as several characters say, "There is s--- in the meat," but because there is meat in the meat.

Some of the film's other points seem a bit trite, too. More than one comedy has shown some burger-flipping kid spit into a burger to spite some customer or other that he doesn't like. (The fact that the burger-flipping kid in this film is played by Paul Dano, and the customer is played by Kinnear, who played Dano's father in Little Miss Sunshine, does make the scene slightly funnier than it is, though.) Also, when one executive reports that the Teletubbies are unavailable for a marketing campaign because Burger King and McDonald's have already got dibs on them, the president of Mickey's utters an expletive, just to ram home the fact that there are greedy, profane grown-ups behind all those smiling, kid-friendly mascots at the local restaurant.

That said, this film—and documentaries like Nikolaus Geyrhalter's Our Daily Bread, which looks at how the industrialization of the food industry has affected vegetables and minerals as well as animals—do serve a valuable purpose in getting us to think and act more responsibly about the way we relate to the creation that God has entrusted to us, and to the people with whom we share this planet.

1. One character says that a "machine" is "taking over our country." Do you agree? How does the film express this theme, visually as well as verbally
2. What does the film have to say about "safety" and "security"? Note the security guards and metal detectors at the school, as well as the meat supplier's rant against those who complain about the excrement in the meat ("Just cook it. That's all you need to do. . . . You want to be safe? Perfectly safe? That's not going to happen"). Is "safety" possible? Desirable? How does this relate to the "machine" theme
3. Amber says the fast food restaurant where she works "doesn't feel real." What would a "real" place feel like? Are any work environments "real"
4. Pete tells Amber, "You don't just sit back and hope. You have to do something. In a town like this, hope will kill you." What does he mean by that? Is he right
5. What responsibility do we have, as Christians, when it comes to food? Would, say, the instructions that Paul gives regarding meat that might have been sacrificed to idols (1 Corinthians 8-10) have any application here?

Fast Food Nation is rated R for disturbing images (industrial accidents; scenes of animal slaughter), strong sexuality (a few sexual encounters, including some nudity, between a supervisor and his underlings; the sounds of a porn film on a hotel TV), language (about three dozen four-letter words) and drug content.

Photos © Copyright Fox Searchlight Pictures

© 2006, Peter T. Chattaway subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

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