Review of The Founder (2016) by Riddhiman2003 — 31 Aug 2021

The Founder (2016) is an exquisite biographical drama film based on the true story of the American businessperson- Ray Kroc, the one who started the world's most renowned fast food chain: McDonald's. With a flawless screenplay crafted by Robert Siegel and under the powerful creative director- John Lee Hancock, this movie stands out as one of its kind. The film premiered at ArcLight Hollywood earning well deserved critical acclaim that also heavily lauded Michael Keaton's authentic performance as Ray Kroc.

The story wonderfully depicts the events that occur in his life that shape the course of his career ahead as he rises from a door-to-door salesman to become the owner of McDonald's. Thrown into complex situational dilemmas, Ray is compelled to take decisions that have heavy long lasting impacts both on his job and in his personal life. Unable to suppress his extraordinary ambition and passion for the business, he tirelessly chases his dream of expanding McDonald's from a small neighborhood restaurant in San Bernardino into a nation wide franchise.

His dedication starts to pay-off when he is credited with enormous fame in the Mid-West and expands horizons to the East Coast. The ever growing business not only profits in millions of dollars, but also multiplies job opportunities for people manifold. Overnight, his success takes America by storm and the whole country starts to look up to him as an inspirational icon.

However this hungry pursuit of his goal, takes a gradual heavy toll on his ethical self. It heartlessly tears down his relationship with his own wife and his trusting friendship with the original founder brothers of McDonald's. The new paths he voluntarily charters to expand his restaurant business even directly contradict the core humane values on which McDonald's was originally built. But none of this casts a genuine impact on his life, which has now come to be solely defined by his financial ambitions. Ray refuses to stop at anything until he fulfills his life-long dream.

As the film plays to a close, Ray's sheer persistence pushes his company through several tough and uncertain years, ultimately successfully establishing itself as the world's largest food chain. This mannerism of his proved to be an asset for his huge company, but it also came at the cost of completely devastating the lives of a few others. On the outside, this easily spells out as a bright success story of hard work and persistence over fear. But it also revolves around a much darker internal theme, that we don't fully realize until the bitter-sweet ending when Ray reflects back on his life to prepare for a press interview.

The amazing cinematography adopted creates a deeper effect in our minds by making us feel the revealing story beats along with the characters themselves. Also the intentional use of brighter color tones of certain scenes is done to synchronize with the iconic vibrant colors of McDonald's. Laura Dern, Nick Offerman, John Lynch, Linda Cardellini and the rest of the talented cast play out their supporting roles perfectly.

This film accurately establishes Ray both as a triumphant human being and as a selfish business tycoon, leaving the rest to the audience's judgement. A definite parallelism between the lives of Ray Kroc and Mark Zuckerberg (in 2010 film Social Network) goes unnoticed. And as the end credits roll over, we are left to ponder on the price of extraordinary success and its worth.