Compliance

"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.

As hard as it will be to believe, this film is very closely based on a real event. A man saying he is a police officer calls a fast food restaurant and gets one of the cashiers brought into the back room by her manager. She is accused of theft and the officer needs the manager to hold her in the room until he can get there. He also needs her to check her purse. And take her phone. And search her pockets. The manager complies and one step at a time things get terribly worse for everyone.

This film had potential. The title suggests that we are looking at the idea of compliance with authority figures and, in order to do that, we will use a real situation to investigation why this occurs. Sadly the film doesn't do any of this and instead simply plays out the real incident without much intelligent to say about it other than telling us it happened. There isn't even discussion after the fact because the ending is spent tying up the mystery (such as it is) in a way that doesn't satisfy and seems tacked on. This lack of insight or commentary is a problem but we are still left with a recreation of sorts – and this is at least delivered with a bit of a sense of tension at first. I say at first not because it flops in the second half but because for it this was replaced by something else – a feeling of the film putting me in the same place as the prank caller, and not in a meaningful way.

The film pushes the sexual material on us in a way it didn't need to. The lead girl is not plain, but blonde with a great figure and the camera doesn't shame away from letting us see it. Nor does it let her break down as the detective reviewing the video at the end of the film tells us she did (crying and begging), instead it keeps her together so that the viewer doesn't feel pushed away by her raw and shredded emotions. It is a very odd series of decisions and I would like to think they were not deliberate but it is difficult when they line up so effectively. The cast mostly do not explore their situations or reasons and, although they follow events, none of them really gave me much beyond what was on the page.

The film does deliver the real events pretty straight but I wondered why it didn't seem to add much to them. There is nothing really in the way of insight or commentary here – the plot plays out and then ends. While doing it though, the film also seems to enjoy the nudity and the sexuality of the lead actress and prevents her from breaking down while also giving her breasts and body plenty of direct line of sight. The film already felt empty and like a missed opportunity – but this just added tawdry to the list.

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.

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!"

"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.