The Corporation Review
by Jon Popick (jpopick AT sick-boy DOT com)November 1st, 2004
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The award-winning documentary from Jennifer Abbott and Mark Achbar could, at 145 minutes, be a bit more focused. I'd only recommend it to people who agree with the film's politics, and even they might find it rather heavy-handed. I was lucky enough to watch The Corporation in three installments, which made it much more palatable. That said, the reason I watched it in three installments is because I kept falling asleep. Its intent and message are dead on, but The Corporation just doesn't work that well as a film.
Packed with interviews from economists, CEOs and familiar faces like Michael Moore and Noam Chomsky, The Corporation is assembled like a cumbersome classroom film that explains the 14th amendment, in addition to freeing the slaves, also gave birth to the notion that Big Business could give itself the rights of a regular human being. Flash forward fifty years, and watch IBM and Coca-Cola make phat profits by cuddling up to Hitler. Flash forward another fifty years and see the patent of living organisms and the creation of dangerous drugs that unnecessarily increase milk production in cows.
The horrors, which take place in the United States and elsewhere (most memorably in Bolivia, where rainwater has become privatized), will minimally make you feel completely helpless and sick to your stomach. And there's even an outside chance it may even make you want to run off and live on an island with a blood-spattered volleyball. Powerful stuff - I just wish it were presented in a better format.
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.
