Eat the Rich (1987) Characters, Setting & Themes Explained

Bastards is a prestigious London restaurant that serves as the primary setting for the film. It functions as a hub for the city's wealthy and powerful elite, where the social dynamics between staff and wealthy customers create a tense class battleground. The opulent interior becomes symbolic of the inequality that drives the narrative.

Foreshadowing: The restaurant's name itself hints at the film's transgressive nature and rebellious spirit.

• bastards restaurant
• london setting
• elite
• class struggle

The film centers on class prejudice as Alex, a disgruntled waiter, endures daily humiliation from wealthy patrons. The narrative uses the restaurant setting to expose the moral rot of privilege, where the elite treat service workers with contempt. This class tension builds toward a violent confrontation that literalizes the idea of consuming the rich.

• class struggle
• social inequality
• elite
• waiter
• humiliation

Eat the Rich presents a group of four anarchists attempting to overturn the status quo through violent rebellion. The film uses dark humor to explore whether violence can ever be justified against systemic oppression. It maintains a cynical view of political promises and reform, suggesting that revolution, even when successful, leads to chaos and uncertainty.

Foreshadowing: The meta notes indicate the ending is intentionally ambiguous to underscore the film's unresolved anti-establishment message.

• revolution
• anarchists
• political change
• violence
• rebellion

The film treats politics as performance, using the Home Secretary's public persona and media attention to lampoon political theater. It exposes how appearances mask power games and manipulation, targeting a system that profits from privilege. The characters perform roles that reveal their true motives, blending farce with critique to expose societal hypocrisy.

• satire
• politics
• critique
• society
• hypocrisy

Alex is a waiter at the Bastards restaurant who suffers daily humiliation from the elite clientele. His role represents the working class subjected to contempt from the wealthy. After being fired for standing up to snobbery, he becomes the catalyst for the restaurant's violent takeover, embodying the film's exploration of class revolt.

• alex
• waiter
• protagonist
• working class

Commander Fortune is a sinister political figure who plots what he calls a "people's revolution with a difference" to derail the Home Secretary's campaign. He collaborates with General Karpov and Spider to manipulate events and undermine the government, representing the opportunistic political forces that exploit chaos for their own gain.

• commander fortune
• politician
• manipulation
• power

General Karpov is a hardline military figure who teams up with Commander Fortune and Spider to derail the Home Secretary's political aspirations. His strategic mindset drives the political sabotage subplot, representing the dangerous intersection of military power and political manipulation in the film's chaotic world.

• general karpov
• military
• political plot
• sabotage

Spider is a conspirator allied with Commander Fortune, involved in the political scheming to topple the Home Secretary. Working alongside General Karpov, he represents the cunning, behind-the-scenes manipulators who orchestrate events to serve their own ambitions, contributing to the film's web of political intrigue.

• spider
• conspirator
• intrigue
• manipulation

Fiona is introduced as a glamorous DHSS worker but is revealed to be a KGB agent allied with the Home Secretary. Her character adds an espionage dimension to the political intrigue, suggesting that manipulation extends beyond domestic politics into international Cold War dynamics.

• fiona
• kbg agent
• espionage
• spy
• miranda richardson

The film maintains a consistently dark tone, blending violent action with biting social satire. It uses outrageous violence against the wealthy as a narrative device to expose the moral rot of privilege, creating an anarchic atmosphere where class conflict becomes both literal and symbolic through the cannibalism motif.

• dark tone
• violence
• satire
• anarchic atmosphere

The title literalizes the concept of consuming the rich to survive a corrupt system. The act of turning the restaurant into a cannibal satire represents the extreme conclusion of class warfare, the oppressed literally devouring the elite. This grotesque imagery serves as the film's most pointed critique of consumer culture and elitism.

• cannibalism
• title
• symbolism
• class warfare
• critique