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Information

Year
2012
Runtime
90 min.
Director
Craig Zobel
Genres
Crime, Drama, Thriller
Rating *
6.4
Votes *
13,228
Checks
2,057
Favs
92
Dislikes
59
Favs/checks
4.5% (1:22)
Favs/dislikes
2:1
* View IMDb information

Top comments

  1. dombrewer's avatar

    dombrewer

    It's fair to say "Compliance" haunted me more than any film I've seen this past year - it stuck in my mind like a rusty nail, and that's quite a feat. I was still thinking about it 24 hours later and cogitating my response - in fact it's been nearly a month since I saw it in the cinema and now felt like putting my thoughts down in a review. It's a contentious film, and one that has polarised opinion. What I saw was an an expertly made, brilliantly acted "real life" drama for grown-ups that asked serious questions about our willingness to capitulate to authority, no matter what the moral implications are, prompted by the famous Stanley Milgram experiments. There are elements of the story that seem too outlandish to believe, but basic research into the actual events reveal how accurately, almost to the smallest detail, writer/director Craig Zobel approached the story. The age old "what would you do" question circles uncomfortably as you watch with no small amount of horror as a prank call police interrogation to a busy, understaffed fast food restaurant goes too far; the terrible consequence of the wrong people in the wrong place at the wrong time. Who's to say what can happen if circumstances and events align so inauspiciously?

    Ann Dowd has rightly won plaudits for her performance as the middle aged restaurant manager Sandra, stressed out, easily manipulated and out of her depth. spoiler

    I have a suspicion that a good deal of the negativity surrounding the film from the general public, currently pushing the IMDB rating down to 6.4, is based more on the unpleasantness of the sensations the film generates rather than a criticism of the quality of the film. We are entirely complicit watching the film unfold as Zobel shoots the film as if we were present - spoiler.
    10 years 11 months ago
  2. FyeahNikki's avatar

    FyeahNikki

    Throughout the whole movie, I just kept ranting and screaming at the characters' stupidity and wanting to slap some sense into of them. It will definitely rile you up, but in a good way I think. 10 years 11 months ago
  3. Big ander's avatar

    Big ander

    Don't understand how it's worthy of heckling or what in it would cause laughter. Certainly it depicts some very stupid people but that's the point. The perfect storm of false authority and stupidity and deviance can cause havoc. Unsettling in that it'll have you thinking it's possible that, during a lapse in judgment, you might allow some of it to happen. Mostly, though, it places the blame on a few especially idiotic and reprehensible people, causing you to hate that this level of mega-senselessness is possible from other human beings.

    Acting is nice from the woman manager and the young girl and Pat Healy, direction is nothing of note, editing is pretty great. Keeps the flick moving.
    11 years 6 months ago
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