Review of Compliance (2012) by Helen S — 03 Feb 2013

Its impossible to review this film without spoilers, so you've been warned.

Compliance is an intriguing drama about how far people are willing to go to comply with authority and their apparent (absurd) lack of questioning when said "authority" demands that they do something morally corrupt. A manager at a fast food joint gets a call from a "police officer" who claims an employee there committed a theft and to aid in the investigation asks the manager to strip search the employee. Things progress from there, as you can imagine, and quickly go from bad to "are you fucking kidding me?" The tension builds nicely here but you'll find yourself rolling your eyes plenty of times along the way and wondering "are people really this stupid?" The sad fact is that over 70 incidents like this one really occurred (though probably less dramatized) in the last decade, so yes, people really are this stupid.

Despite that, though, it's an engaging film that will leave you questioning your own morality as you wonder: Who's to blame here? The guy on the phone, or the employees blindly obeying his compelling "logic.".