The Corporation Review
by Brad Porter (closingzone2000 AT yahoo DOT com)July 20th, 2004
I just saw this documentary. God, I hated it. After it was over, the moron knee-jerk liberals in the audience gave it some applause, but I actually booed.
The movie basically says that corporations are totally evil, some of them were in league with the Nazis (yes, they actually showed footage of a concentration camp), and are only concerned with polluting the environment and making money. Gee, do you think part of the reason the U.S. has been successful is maybe because corporations are also somewhat efficient at allocating resources, maybe? None of the other systems has done nearly as well at feeding and clothing our citizens. In addition, Soviet Russia was a worse polluter than we were in a lot of ways, despite having a horrible economy.
Furthermore, technological progress and profit actually helps corporations to pollute less (see: the car industry) while still making a profit. But considering the big picture like this is totally beyond the filmmakers, who are wrapped up in making a straw-man and then whacking away at it for two and a half hours.
An example of sloppy research and understanding: the movie makes the point several times that shareholders in a corporation are not liable for any illegal action the corporation takes; shareholders can lose what they invested in the corporation, but no more. So, the movie says, corporations can act with impunity and little risk to the owners of the company.
Except for one thing: the shareholders are not liable, but the Board of Directors is. Which is why Ken Lay is so worried these days.
The movie also says that corporations are inherently evil, and will take any opportunity to steal and pollute. But isn't it possible that if you put an individual in place of the corporation, you'd have those same problems with corruption (for example, as in many African Nations, and in the former U.S.S.R.)?
Aside from not putting much in the way of genuine thought and perspective into the movie, it's also too long in the midst of being too sloppy, throwing everything it can think of on the screen, hoping something will stick. It says people need to get involved with policing corporations. Sure, that's great, and necessary. That (very obvious) message was one of three scenes in the movie that I thought had merit. The rest of it was shrill hysterics.
I hate knee-jerk liberals about as much as I hate knee-jerk conservatives. Some of them undoubtedly work to make the world a better place, while I watch TV, but I still think both groups should be made into Soylent Green.
I feel somewhat akin to what The Filthy Critic said in panning "Fahrenheit 9/11," "I hate George Bush, too, but I have better reasons than this."
This is the first time that I've hated a movie so much that I also sort of hate anyone who likes it, which seems to be a fair number of people, if you go by Rotten Tomatoes, www.rottentomatoes.com.
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.
