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Tuesday, January 15, 2013

BLU-RAY REVIEW
Compliance
Still Haunting, Disturbing And Complex In 2013
A disturbing coda during Craig Zobel's "Compliance", now on Blu-Ray and DVD in the U.S. and Canada.  Magnolia Pictures
       
by Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com        Follow popcornreel on Twitter FOLLOW                                           
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Lost in the shuffle of last week's Academy Award nominations, Critics Choice Awards and Golden Globes countdowns was the Blu-Ray release of Craig Zobel's drama "Compliance", a film that fascinated or repulsed its viewers during its theatrical release last summer in the U.S.  Audiences were either inspired to talk about it for hours and hours afterward or moved to flee in sizable numbers to the nearest theater exit.  I remain impressed by Mr. Zobel's fine sophomore effort, a balanced, nuanced work that was the best film of 2012.

A film "inspired by true events" is generally going to be a troubled one story and execution-wise for the big screen, but "Compliance" is more an I-just-can't-believe-what I'm-watching drama, one that would easily challenge some events of Ripley's Believe It Or Not for believability.  Set in a fictional ChickWich restaurant in Ohio, "Compliance" traces the slow and steady degradation of moral code and well-being amongst a group of fast-food restaurant workers headed by Sandra (Ann Dowd), who receives a phone call from a man claiming to be a police officer (Pat Healy), accusing an employee, Becky (Dreama Walker), of a theft she vigorously contests.  (The real-life ordeal took place at a McDonald's restaurant in the U.S. in 2004.)

"Compliance" is a film that is no less jarring on the small screen, particularly if one hasn't seen the film in theaters.  The 1080p high definition transfer in 16x9 widescreen (2.35:1) makes the events captured even colder, blunter and starker, heightening the raw power and complexity of the film's disturbing events and the things that some characters do or don't do to stop the chain of humiliations that occur. 

Mastered in DTS-HD 5.1 audio, "Compliance" boasts Heather McIntosh's buoyant and perceptive music score, her first for a major motion picture feature, and the great acting of Ms. Dowd, Ms. Walker and Mr. Healy.  Bill Camp, Philip Ettinger, Ashlie Atkinson and Nikiya Mathis also do fine work as part of an ensemble cast, work that is so measured that it feels authentic and seamless, as does Mr. Zobel's ear-to-the-ground screenplay about working class people who easily submit to authority despite knowing that what they submit to is wrong and immoral. 

Rooted in the Milgram experiments, the Stanford prison experiments and such films as "Lifeboat", "The Incident" and "Phone Booth", "Compliance" shows that it isn't as easy as Nancy Reagan said it was years ago -- to "just say no".

The Blu-Ray release of Mr. Zobel's film -- at least in this initial entry to the home video marketplace -- did not get the special features treatment it deserved.  The independent film distributor Magnolia Pictures simply did not have the budgetary means to provide the bells and whistles other more moneyed distribution outfits enjoy.  (Last year I recorded this feature-length audio commentary intended to supplement "Compliance" for those who may want additional insight about it.) 


Dreama Walker as Becky in Craig Zobel's psychodrama "Compliance".  Dogfish Pictures

The four movie trailers and AXS TV preview combined are almost as long as the total duration of the "Compliance" extras.  The trailers are the first thing to play once the disc is inserted in your Blu-Ray player.  This is a minor irritant but skipping past the trailers and AXS TV preview brings you to the main menu and the standard Blu-Ray disc accoutrements you expect. 

The special features are a ten-minute interview with Mr. Zobel -- a series of edited sound bites; a two-minute behind the scenes look at "Compliance" (a segment recorded a year ago from the Sundance Film Festival and long available on YouTube); an AXS TV look at the film (a four-minute segment), and the two-minute original theatrical trailer for the film.  The Blu-Ray comes with English and Spanish language subtitles.  The one huge drawback of this "Compliance" Blu-Ray disc is that you cannot put the entire film on repeat; only its individual chapters.  (With the film's tough subject matter, not being able to automatically repeat the entire film with one touch of a button on a remote is perhaps by design.)

Even now "Compliance" remains riveting, powerful and scary.  The movie holds up a jagged, even indicting mirror to all of us; to our thought processes, our lack of critical thinking, our readiness to believe things just because a particular person (or media outlet) told them to us; our assumption that something is true or not true simply because we assume the guilt or innocence of someone or believe in authority we supposedly trust.  For instance, many Americans all too readily believed in "weapons of mass destruction" and U.S. invasion of Iraq in its initial stages; and in the Private Jessica Lynch "heroism" story.  Other more severe, devastating examples throughout human history -- of people not just believing but following orders to the demise of millions -- put a film like "Compliance" in its proper, troubling context.

"Compliance" is a sobering reminder that deep down, subconsciously, a lot of us want or desire to be led, and it may be human nature for us to want to be shepherded, since we've been programmed that way since birth via parenting and society.  Taking responsibility for weighty matters is still very scary for some.  To come forward, to be a whistleblower, to stand out against a chapter-and-verse authoritarian society is viewed as bold, often despised or disrespected by some in the U.S. (or elsewhere.)  To be a contrarian or to express a very different thought (Jesse Ventura, Oliver Stone, Michael Moore, The Dixie Chicks, Jackie Chan, Jane Fonda, Jeffrey Wigand, etc.) is often viewed with animosity rather than admiration.  I think this is why, in part, that Mr. Zobel's neutral film was met with such extreme and visceral discomfort by some audiences. 

However you receive this 90-minute film, ultimately you may (or may not) see that "Compliance" is important, timely and valuable, and worth more than one look, even if you didn't enjoy it.  One thing you surely won't do is forget what you've seen.

Also with: Stephen Payne, James McCaffrey, Matt Servitto.

"Compliance" is rated R by the Motion Picture Association Of America for language and sexual content/nudity.  The film's running time is one hour and 30 minutes.  

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