Compliance

As a History Teacher of High School Students I am saddened by the lack of basic civic knowledge not afforded to the characters in this film and subsequently the real people who they portrayed. Ignorance is so depressing. Also this situation reminds us the the famous Stanford Prison Experiment and Milgrim Experiments of the 1960's, how easy it can be for authority figures to take control of unsuspecting or passive individuals. This film is important to see and the graphic nature is vital to its message. Look what the citizens of Germany allowed to happen the the 1930's and the tragedy of the followers of Jim Jones to name a few examples.

"Compliance" is a shockingly terrifying film. As I watched the events unfold on the screen, knowing that they were tightly based off a true story, I had difficulty maintaining my breathing. With a sinister visual style from the start, filled with tight macro shots and a simply greasy aura, as well as powerful performances from all of the cast members, most exceptionally Ann Dowd, "Compliance" transcends from its fast-food setting into something much darker, and much more haunting. The abuse of the young cashier is repulsive. "How could you do that?!" you will continually wonder, wishing the words would escape your head in the form of a scream. This film is frustrating, vexing, and equally engrossing, almost as if the story itself doesn't satisfy man's need for vicarious horror. "Compliance" forces me to question my fate in humanity and the limits of the 7 billion people with whom I share this Earth. Ultimately this film is a sickening narrative, a narrative I might as well wish I had never seen. Must you watch this? No. Is this a vital piece of cinema? No. Is "Compliance" paralyzing, appalling, thought provoking, and, most brutally, true? More than you could ever imagine.

Unbelievable that there are such low iq folk in the world. It happened to a young girl Louise Ogborn in Mcdonalds just as described in the film.

It makes you wonder why in a crowd of people there is not one with an IQ over 50 to drop the call and ask for the number to phone back or just ask to speak to the Area Manager who was supposedly on the phone!

It is a slow burn, some well known actors and good performances all round and although it is not that exciting it does have some drama and it IS based on a true tale; one of many actually so the one reviewer who thinks it cannot be true should just try and use google and look up Louise Ogborn & Donna Summers & McDonalds & David Stewart. It is kinda spooky as I just watched the excellent "Cheap Thrills" last night which stars the fake Police caller Pat Healy who does give a pretty good performance in both movies and it is his manner which does give credence to the possibility that this actually happened as people are so conditioned to obey people in authority - Mind bogglingly interesting when you know it happened but the movie itself is a bit of a hard watch and is overly long so I cannot give it more than an average 5 out of 10.

Also amazing to note that the hoax caller was not prosecuted due to lack of evidence but the store manager got 5 years in jail so the film does have a place to illustrate how mad the world is becoming and how stupid and like sheep the populace are becoming - not really an eye opener for me as nothing surprises me these days.

Compliance (2012)

*** (out of 4)

Based on a true story about a fast food manager (Ann Dowd) who receives a phone call from a police officer saying that one of the employees (Dreama Walker) has stolen some money from a customer. The officer then tells the manager to take the girl into her office, strip search her and then hold her there until the police can come get her. COMPLIANCE is a film that has made many people angry and the reports of walk-outs were rather shocking to see because you have to wonder why people would buy a ticket for a film like this and then get upset. I had the misfortune of living in Mount Washington, KY for a few years and this is where the original incident took place. It was at a McDonald's that I've eaten at and I even knew of the people involved in the case. Considering the "type" of town this place was it never really shocked me that something like this could happen but apparently it has happened all over the country. Yes, the subject matter is ugly and yes it's incredible that anyone could be so stupid to allow this to happen but it's all based on fact that people can check out. This film is a pretty ugly but I say that in a good way because with a subject like this there's really no way to paint it as something good so I admire the writer-director for just going strongly at the subject. Both Dowd and Walker turn in excellent performances as does the rest of the supporting cast. Again, the subject matter is just so crazy that it has to be true or else you'd start screaming at your television over the characters doing such stupid things. I still have a lot of questions over the actual case and especially consider the character of some involved. Having followed the case there were some major things that I felt were left out but this has little to do with this film. As a film I think it's very effective and ugly just as it should be. One could debate for years about what actually happened and what one would do if they were ever in a similar circumstance.

I lasted less than halfway through this thing. HOW can people be such idiots? For DECADES, we have had television police procedurals. Common sense should have prevented ANY of this from happening,

My walk-away? "GOD, these people vote!"