Compliance

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.

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.)

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!"

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.