Compliance

Logline: When a prank caller convinces a fast food restaurant manager to interrogate an innocent young employee, no-one is left unharmed. Based on true events.

Cast: Dreama Walker, Ann Dowd, Pay Healy

Directed by: Craig Zobel

I chose this movie because I'd been hearing good things about it and it's got pretty good ratings on RT (90%). For those of you who don't know, about 10 years ago there were a series of prank calls committed to grocery stores, fast-food chains, and restaurants in which a guy claiming to be a police officer made employers strip search employees. In fact, there were 70 cases just like this. Compliance is the true story of the furthest that this prank got. Not "based" on a true story - an "actual" true story, meaning every major thing that happened, actually happened.

Summary

It was a really stressful and busy Friday in the ChickWich Fast-Food chain (in reality it was McDonald's) and everyone is working under a lot of tension trying to get orders right and having to deal with customers at the same time. Then, a man claiming to be Officer Daniels phones in accusing an employee named Becky of stealing  money out of a woman's purse. The Manager, Sandra, follows his orders as he gradually works his way up to her making Becky do humiliating things.

Review

This movie only works due to the fact that it is a true story.

The first half hour, all I could think about was why they didn't just say: "No, I need to see some identification." Every policeman has to identify himself properly before any accusations. The characters at ChickWich are all oblivious to this. About 4-5 different people. Sandra is the most to blame because others were going off the notion that Sandra knew for a fact he was a policeman. When you're frustrated with your main character's lack of knowledge, it's really hard to invest in her and believe her situation. But, this movie is a true story, and she actually is real. That's what makes this movie so interesting. As dumb as all these people are made out to be, it actually did happen - pretty much act for act.

It takes us through different levels of traumatisation.  Sandra conducts a strip search. Sandra calls in her husband Van who she can trust to look after her while they wait for the "cops" to show up. Van is ordered to search her again and make her do jumping jacks naked. When Becky argues, she is forced to do unspeakable things; So much so that you think the movie took it way too far - but it didn't - because it ACTUALLY HAPPENED.

Dreama Walker and Ann Dowd complete this movie with awesome performances. I remember Walker's face from other movies such as Gran Torino and The Invention of Lying, but I suspect now I'll be seeing it a lot more - and I'd be very happy with that. I'll be honest when I say I couldn't put Dowd's face on any character, but I've definitely seen movies with her in them. I was pleasantly surprised by both of them - they captivated me.

Topic of the Day

I hate movies that say: based on a true story.

This is due to the simple fact that by saying "based", a filmmaker can change 80% of what actually happened and use the 20% to make the story seem more real. I guess it's a way to draw people in. Take Rudy for example. Remember that coach and how evil he was? In reality he was actually the exact opposite. When the team threatened to walk out if Rudy didn't get to play in the final game, the evil coach let in. But for the sake of it being a movie, they had to. In reality, the coach loved Rudy and wouldn't have had it any other way but to play him in the last game. And that's not the only one. There are so many horrors that say "based on a true story" and then a bunch of ghosts and paranormal things appear. It can't be proven, so why say that? You know? Compliance doesn't mess around with the truth, it tells the story exactly as it happened.

Consensus

Compliance is a thought provoking true story that really makes me think how sick some people are in this world. After watching, I immediately read up on the case and researched the details & I couldn't believe how accurate this movie was. It was really hard to believe this movie & that's what makes it so good - because believe it or not, it actually did happen. Any movie that makes me think about it for this long has to have done something right. It's hard to get past the fact that the main characters are so gullible, but when the fact that these are real events that happened kicks in, it's so hard to watch for other reasons than being primarily frustrated. I really did like this movie - it made me think and it taught me all about this huge court case that I had no idea about.

8/10