The Corporation Review
by Ryan Ellis (flickershows AT hotmail DOT com)February 19th, 2004
The Corporation
by Ryan Ellis
February 12, 2004
I've been struggling to write this review for over a week now. It's often difficult to discuss the films I like. Why? Well, reviewing bad movies is easy because then I can go into smart-ass nitpicking mode. When something punches you in the guts and it affects your way of thinking, all you can really tell people is, "Go see this movie and I hope you like it as much as I did". Now, 'The Corporation' is not a great documentary, but it's certainly a very good one. Yet I stare at the keyboard and search for the words that won't just write themselves. Maybe this is why---'The Corporation' echoes my own thoughts so completely that I KNOW this review will be biased. I don't want to turn this into a polemic, but what the heck, huh? This is my party and I'll write what I want to. So here's a word of warning. Since this movie deals specifically with the serious damage being done by greedy corporations throughout the world, anyone of the right-wing persuasion might want to point-n-click over to something else. You WILL be offended.
Of course, the irony is that anyone who disagrees with this movie probably wouldn't have seen it in the first place. When Michael Moore and Noam Chomsky appear in a documentary, the audience isn't likely to be comprised of folks who have the undivided attention of men like George Bush Junior. Naturally, everyone at my screening seemed to feel as I and my companions do, which is that none of us can stand the dodgy American President & his cronies. In a rousing display of free expression, there was even a round of applause when the credits were rolling. Deservedly so, because this documentary is galvanizing. It's rare you'll find a movie that's really ABOUT something. There might not be any other motion picture playing in any theatre right now with subject matter as urgent as this. 'LOTR: ROTK', 'Monster', '21 Grams', and 'The Cooler' are the best late-2003 films now playing in a theatre near you. However, 'The Corporation' (which probably ISN'T playing at a theatre near you) should be required viewing for everybody who gives a damn about the living beings who inhabit this planet. Even if the film is off-base---and I truly don't think it is---it raises a dizzying array of powerful arguments.
Is there a lower- or middle-class person who doesn't feel cheated by the money men who rule this planet with a greedy fist? According to the film, corporations were instituted as public trust to serve the good of everyone. Initially, corporations couldn't own. Then it was decided that they could be classified as people, therefore they could buy & own, and that is when capitalism in its purest (worst?) form took over. [I'm reminded of Michael Douglas in 'Wall Street': "I make nothing. I own".] It's at the point now where media broadcasters investigate themselves, conveniently ruling in their own favour. They want to regulate themselves and seem to be able to do it. How is that acceptable?
The most riveting sequence in the movie occurs when two former FOX News reporters explain how and why they were fired for trying to air a story about unhealthy milk being sold in the marketplace. As someone who works in the television industry, first-hand experience tells me that nothing in that FOX story is shocking. It SHOULD be, but stories like these are commonplace. Even when the journalists said that their boss admitted they were being fired for telling the truth, all I could whisper to my friend was "none of that story surprises me one bit". It's revolting the way these corporate sharks have perverted the news. I expected to see the scene in 'Network' where the discussion casually turns to the on-air murder of Peter Finch's character. Television was absurd in the mid-70s, so just how ridiculous must it look to sane people in 2004? How do you buy and sell the news?
It's interesting how often the topic kept coming back to the environment. Bill Maher recently told Larry King that he has problems with the Bush administration, first and foremost, because they're bad for his health. The Republican party's usual "burn it and dig for it" environmental policies are not doing any good for this planet, but 'The Corporation' drills home just how much damage is being done in the name of profit. In some parts of the world, people almost have to stage a revolution just to get clean water. One of these days, Treebeard and his Ent buddies are going to seek revenge on what he have done and continue to do to this planet. Nature will strike back and we deserve everything we get in retribution.
But as strong as the subject matter is from start to finish, the movie does go on too long. At some points it feels like a referee should give 'em 10 yards for piling on after the never-ending criticism of corporate greed. Since the audience for this movie is already a choir ready to be preached to, the running time could have been shortened without damaging the overall impact. One sequence with over-lapping dialogue and a slow camera dolly goes on forever. And this isn't so much a criticism as an observation---in a film with outspoken rabble-rousers Moore and Chomsky, it's Ray Anderson who stands out. He was once the head of a corporation and has seen the damage his carpet manufacturing business was doing. His sincere "talking head" scenes affected me more than the expected ferocity brought forth by Moore, Chomsky et al.
Speaking of the infamous Michael Moore, the picture ends with his challenge to initiate change. That leads to...uh, how? I overheard a man say afterwards, "So what do we do, start our own country?" Good question. What's inevitable is that heated discussion will follow the closing credits of every screening. This is the kind of doc that can get people pissed off. If you leave this movie and forget about it 5 minutes later, you weren't paying attention and/or you might need a doctor to carve you open and look for a soul. If you agree with the message, fine, mission accomplished. If you don't, you should be angry at how this movie tears down the right-wing elite (because, justified or not, the movie IS tearing it down). Case in point---Moore addresses his own hypocrisy of making a good living by crusading for the poor and oppressed. He also points out that studios and television stations should not want to promote his message, yet they'll do it if they can make money. His efforts to destroy the Stupid White Men are good for business because people pay lots of money to hear/see/read what the controversial Oscar-winner has to say. When it comes to corporations, it seems there's just no common sense anymore.
Jennifer Abbott & Mark Achbar co-directed the picture (her debut and only his 3rd film) while also performing most of the major technical duties (producing, camera, editing). They should be commended for tackling tough material. A lot of doors must have been shut in their face. A lot of phone calls and e-mails must have gone unreturned. But, call me a cynic, I doubt their project will ever bring about the social change needed to stop the rich from getting richer. We've all heard the stories about foreign manufacturers creating an item of clothing that we pay $20 or $50 or even $200 to own, yet the labourer who actually made it only earns pennies per hour. We know these stories are true and most people agree that this type of slave labour is vile and obscene, so why does it continue?
In a film with a mock medical checklist of emotional tendencies---which suggest that most corporations could be classified as pyschopaths!---there are dozens of powerful questions which demand answers. To date, this film has only played at a few American film festivals and in art-house theatres here in Toronto. Not only does this documentary need to be released in as many major markets in the United States as possible, it should be shown worldwide. And why not? At the very least, a long line of profit-driven companies will get free publicity by being lumped together as scumbags by 'The Corporation'. In a sick way, the money-grubbers might see dollar signs flashing in that sentence. What a screwed-up world.
To contact me with kudos or criticism, write to [email protected]. And to discuss this issue further with free-thinking rabble rousers, click on 11-11.tv.
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
