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After watching this movie i just couldn't believe it was based on a true story. It boggled my mind that a group of people could be this stupid. In BIG disbelief i searched the net to see if this was really true or just loosely based on a true story. I found proof that it was totally true. Every aspect of the story was true. ABC even did a story about these events with interviews with the manager and the young girl. Also showing actual footage of the events.

The movie is not bad. The characters to a good job. But you will spend more time with your mouth open in disbelief of whats happening then actually enjoying the movie. It really is disturbing.

"Compliance" is a film that is painfully difficult to watch at times, because of the nature of what we see and knowing it's all true. The initial reaction is to scoff at what takes place on screen, because it's so preposterous. It's hard to believe people wouldn't wake up sooner and realize what was going on or even have a basic understanding of the law and procedure. But, basic research shows it is all true. The fact this could happen is a testament to the gullibility of the American public, and that's the most painful part of all.

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.

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.

I saw this today at the Traverse City Film Festival. About 1/4 of the audience walked out before the film ended. I do not disagree that the movie is difficult to watch, but I think you can hardly review a movie where you walked out without seeing the entire film. This film makes an important and real point... that many of us will, when listening to what we assume to be an authority figure, do things which we know are wrong. It also has two characters who say in one way or another "No, I will not do this." Bravo for them and may each of us feel empowered to do the same, if not by our own ethical standards, then by viewing this movie and realizing how devastating the consequences can be.

One would like to be able to say "No one could be so stupid" but the fact that this type of event (involving, reportedly, even more degrading assaultive behavior than portrayed in this film) has happened repeatedly in this country (over 70, according to the closing credits) shows that wish to be untrue. I hope every young person will view this film and be brave enough to refuse any authority figure who makes demands on them which seem to go beyond the bounds of the law and good sense.

And don't ever talk to a law officer in detail without your attorney being present (and no, I am not a lawyer.)

This movie is simply unbearable to watch. Yes, it is well made and has great acting. But whats infuriating is that it highlights how truly stupid and uneducated most Americans are. Yes, I understand given the notion of authority, people will listen to what they are told, but these people act like they have never heard of due process of law, innocent until proved guilty, asking for an attorney to be present or even asking for a policeman's badge number when he demands strange things. Only at a fast food restaurant, staffed by the most uneducated idiots could something like this occur. Or rather, I would like to think so. It seems as if the caller banks of what the people may have seen in TV shows to get them to follow his orders, but likewise, wouldn't TV at least remind people that officers don't strip search and spank people over like 40 missing dollars? The moral of the story is to stay in school and know your rights. Or you might wind up like these morons someday.

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" 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.

Thing I can say about this movie is that it seriously angered me while I was watching but not for any of the right reasons though.

Watching stupid people doing stupid things, that's how I would sum this movie up. I just couldn't believe how far this guy could take things and how easily and willingly people complied, from pretty much the early start on already. It was crazy to watch and it honestly prevented me from ever getting into this movie and feel for its main characters.

And yes, of course I realize all of this truly happened so I also therefore don't call it unrealistic but that doesn't take away anything from the fact that this movie still felt like such a stupid one. Watching people do things like this is in no way a fun or intriguing experience, not even on a social experiment type of level.

You could definitely see and take this movie as a social study, that shows how easily people can be influenced and talked into doing some things which under no other normal circumstances they would ever agree to do. But I just could never enjoy or take this movie in such a way, simply because I couldn't feel for its main characters and the movie never gave me a true good sense of what was going on in their heads, as a good movie of this sort should always be capable of. Because of that, the movie just never worked on an emotional level for me neither, since I never felt any involvement with its characters, or any of the events.

So for me personally, this movie was being a bit of a shallow and one note experience. I can definitely still see why some people would still 'like' this movie and take it for what it is but it just angered me too much to ever fully appreciate it, on any level.

5/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

I was scam-called by someone pretending to be a cop once. He claimed my wife had skipped jury duty. It was quite convincing for about 10 minutes, and then I realized what he was asking me to do made no sense, so I told him they'd just have to come and put my wife in jail, as he had threatened to do. At that point he became angry and revealed himself for the scammer he was.

The point is, any one of even slightly below average intelligence would have questioned this 'cop' well before things got to where they did. Everyone involved in the incident was a complete moron. That being said, that's not on the actors and filmmakers, as they were just portraying what supposedly happened, and I think they did it well. But you will not be able to watch this without getting extremely ticked, especially at the manager.

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!"

I have not researched the actual event, but if this movie is even close to reality, the participants should be euthanized for the well-being of the rest of us. I had to scan through a few parts that were too disturbing. To think that a young kid could be treated in such a fashion by brain dead adults nauseates me.

I can't believe this movie is based on a true story. How is it possible this could happen more than 70 times? American people should show and teach common sense at school. This movie could help to make to understand about the meaning of ignorance.

People who say, "No one could possibly be this dumb" are missing the point of COMPLIANCE. We live in a world replete with Svengalis who mesmerize and influence others using glib tongues, intimidation, and fear. From high-end financial crimes a la Madoff, to phone threats from the "IRS," to lottery scams, to internet ransomware, this type of crime happens every single day, and often to people we would consider otherwise intelligent. The question is, "Why?" What within the human condition makes some of us vulnerable to this most insidious form of bullying? Exploitation is nothing new, and that's what this film explores.

Granted, by comparison to run-of-the-mill grifts, Compliance depicts a scam that pushes the bounds of extremity. It also depicts a scam that has succeeded in the real world numerous times, and blaming the victims downplays the very real danger that sociopaths and psychopaths who are genius manipulators pose to society.

And at the very bottom of this entire discussion is a little indie film that is so riveting and well acted, it will be over before you know it.

Recommendation: Watch to Strong Watch.

(December 2022 update: Netflix has just released a true crime documentary, DON'T PICK UP THE PHONE, that outlines just how strikingly true this film is to the actual events it depicts. I highly recommend it as a tandem watch with COMPLIANCE, also currently streaming.)

(2012) Compliance PSYCHOLOGICAL DRAMA

Anyone who "hadn't" read the news, seen the news or basically keep themselves properly informed on whatever what was happening on whatever format they get their news from, would be entranced by this film than people such as myself, since even before I even saw this movie, I had already seen the ABC 20/20 segment about this beforehand, therefore I was already aware about what to expect and when some of those things were happening, asking myself do I really need to watch this as a film and relive all of this all over again, when I had already had a reaction when I saw the actual segment. Movie based on actual events centering on employees working in fast food chains actually believing that an undercover officer or a law enforcer is going to make a phone call (without giving out his proper information for identification) so that their young female employees can perform very degrading acts to relive fantasies made by the unknown caller. Just because the employees must not like working where they're and so forth, that they believing that a cop is at the other end of the line making up false silly accusations that someone had spotted their young female employee stealing customers money when they don't even ask for any kind of ID or anything such as who was accusing them in the first place so that they could confront them. The last time a cop came to my house, he was looking for an address, showed me his badge right away as well as I get to look at his face. And speaking of which, while I was writing a review for this film I remembered someone making a prank call to me at one time posing as some gov't official except that I recognized the a-hole's voice and I filed a complaint against him since it's illegal to pose as a gov't official. And of course, he denied that he had anything to do with it but was given a warning by the police anyway. I would rather beat his ass, but this guy had a history of suing people for money for assault even though he acts like a total dick because he loves to provoke people to throw the first punch. Anyways, I didn't like this movie since I pretty much knew what was going to happen and ended up fast forwarding while playing much of it instead, and highly respect the viewers who did like it for it's intention was to make others aware that these things happen, except that I had already seen this on an actual segment and know some of the actual people that were involved, and to me that is sometimes more interesting than watching something that was based on a real life incident.

On the 1st February 2014 author bunnywuv reviewed this film with a heading Stop! Strip search time... and rated it 1 out of 10.

Except for one large point I agree with everything they say in their review effectively that the film is totally implausible and unbelievable. BUT this film is based on true events. Now many films claim this only to be a loose interpretation and highly fictionalised version of the actual events. Today I Googled "what is the film compliance based on" and found another movies web site that shows the actual CCTV footage of the real life event along with clips of interviews with the victim and the manager. Dig this out and you'll find it as disturbing as the film itself.

As for the rating, I've given it 10 not because I enjoyed the film but because I don't want to bring down the average score. No one should like this film but, and only because it is based on true events, it does make compelling viewing.

In an attempt to present a true occurrence, Writer/Director Craig Zobel brings his sophomore effort, Compliance starring Ann Dowd (The Informant, Garden State) and Dreama Walker (TV's Don't Trust the B*** in Apt. 23).

The film tells the story of Sandra (Dowd), a manager of a fast-food restaurant that receives a phone call from a man claiming to be a police officer that claims one of her employees Becky (Walker), stole money from a customer's purse. Based on true events, this man, who calls himself Officer Daniels, persuades Sandra and other individuals to not only shame Becky but to violate and ravage any persona that was once that former girl. What happens to young Becky is one of the most abnormal and malicious pranks ever recorded.

The film's agenda is to present the "facts." It does just that and gets our attention. Point given to Zobel, however there are not enough details or precision on the surrounding sequences to offer anything more than a shock-valued experience that could have been told on the eleven o'clock news. The thematic narrative that surrounds the events is entirely forced and feels synchronized to lead to rising actions that catapult the story forward. Zobel also attempts to shine a light on job-etiquette and inappropriate behavior in the workplace but with no sanctioned reason or emphasis on these ideals, any message sent isn't received. He blows over the subject in a one-two shot that by movie's end is nothing that could generate a heated discussion. If anything, it simply shows there are people out there who just lack common sense. I could have told you that in one sentence.

What pulls you through the story is the extraordinary turn by Ann Dowd. Dowd has been an under-the-radar character actress delivering in brief performances for years. Her credits which include Zach Braff's Garden State (2004) and Apt Pupil (1998) are mere dots on her thespian canvas. She could and should be one of her best working women today. Dowd's uneasy dedication to Sandra is purely sensational and is solidly one of the better female performances of the year. Walker's vacant and internalizing turn doesn't affect in the manner it must. A young girl going through an ordeal that is as frightening as it is humiliating should be visually external and chronically emotional. Walker struggles with the believability a bit.

Compliance is diminutively sufficient and blandly adequate with no additional layers that elevate its small independent nature. It feels rather one note riding on the promise of a distinctive tale that never totally comes to fulfillment.