Title: Compliance
Director: Craig ZobelReleased: 2012
Starring: Ann Dowd, Dreama Walker, Pat Healy, Bill Camp, Phillip Ettinger, James McCaffrey, Ashlie Atkinson
Plot: When a prank caller (Healy) claiming to be a police
officer investigating a theft at a fast food restaurant, the manager Sandra
(Dowd) is convinced to interrogate one of her employees Becky (Walker) as the caller gives instructions over the phone.
Review: Based on the real life events of April 9, 2004 when
a prank caller managed to convince the manger of a McDonald’s in Mount
Washington, Kentucky that they were a police officer. At the same time
the film also references the controversial Milgram experiment carried out by
Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram and which was designed
to look at participant’s willingness to obey an authority figure instructing
them to perform acts which would conflict with the personal conscience, which
Milgram achieved by asking participants to administer electric shocks of
increasing voltage to another subject every time they made a mistake. What they
didn’t know was that the person who they were supposedly shocking was an actor
and not actually receiving any of the shocks the participant was lead to
believe they were giving.
Like its inspiration this film proved to be non the less
controversial with its premier at Sundance being greeted with Walkouts and
shouting matches erupting during the Q&A session though since its release
it has pretty much sunk under the radar, which is surprising as normally if
anything is guaranteed to help the promotion of your film its controversy.
An intriguing plot made even more so because of the real
world elements being a lot truer than the majority of so called movies
“Inspired by real life events”, it is also a fascinating look at how different people
respond to orders given by those in position of authority and while the film
might centre around the situation that Sandra and Becky find themselves in, the
real focus here is on how Sandra is manipulated and what she is willing to take as
standard protocol based on nothing but the fact that she assumes she is being
given the correct advice by a police officer.
Interestingly director Zobel has followed the events of the
case in question remarkably closely, while at the same time bringing in other
characters into the twisted games of the caller and perhaps in a way linking
the events even more to the Milgram experiment as he shows how different staff
members react to the orders being given, with some proving to be unquestionably
compliant while Sandra’s friend Kevin (Ettinger) aggressively refuses to take
part. Equally at the same time there is a curiosity about how far the caller
will take things, which for those of you familiar with the case will come as no
surprise while providing grim shocks for the rest of us.
Shot on a shoe string budget Zobel works around his
limitations by keeping the majority of the film within the confines of the
restaurant back office which helps add to the tension, only breaking away to
show the caller as he works through his plan or to show one of the numerous
hallway conversations between the staff regarding the escalating situation,
which helps reassure us that they aren’t all of the same mind set and
furthering reinforcing the different mind sets regarding the commands they are
being given by the supposed officer.
While the majority of critics have raved about Dowd’s
performance as the coerced restaurant manager which earned her the National
Board of Review award for for Best Supporting Actress, which for myself as the
film goes on proved to be source of increasing frustration especially as she
continues to agree to the ever more invasive requests, even recruiting her own
boyfriend Van (Camp) to watch Becky which only leading to some of the more
shocking moments of the film. For myself the real standout here is Dreama
Walker who while no doubt best known for her comedic talents in the sitcom
“Don’t Trust The Bitch In Apartment 23” really proves her dramatic abilities
here, which equally taking on no doubt one of her most challenging roles to
date. More so when you look at what she is forced to endure over the course of
the film and while also spending the majority of the film naked bar an apron,
but this is in no way fun nudity.
My main gripe with this film though is the caller. Mainly
because there is never any clear reason given for why he chooses to do what he
does. Clearly it’s not for sexual satisfaction, while his meticulous note
taking he makes over the course of the call only hints at a greater obsession
which is frustratingly never explored further, with Zobel seemingly happy to just
give us the fact and leave us to draw our own conclusions.
While it is a fascinating case which Zobel has chosen to
highlight it is really a no thrills style which he chooses to shoot it in,
while his focus purely on the events as they played out, with only a passing
glance paid to the actual investigation and aftermath the film ends feels as if
something is lacking, while the grim later portions combined with the lacking
areas highlighted, especially in terms of the psychology of the caller means
that it doesn’t stand up to repeat viewings. Still for those with any interest
in the true case its worth giving a watch.
Compliance was really fascinating to me - I think I watched it about four times after I found it on Netflix. The events of the film might seem a bit too dramatic and far-fetched, but like you said, the director did follow the actual events almost exactly, which makes the whole thing even more shocking.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the caller's motives were that unclear - some people like to just fuck with people and test their boundaries of power and role-playing. The caller was obviously just psychotically amused by the whole thing (notice the one part of him giggling like a girl at the person's response to his request).
Again, really fascinating movie. Did not deserve all the flack it got.
I guess your right, perhaps I was just looking for a deeper reason for the callers actions than the one we got.
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