The Corporation
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Movie Reviews of The Corporation
Movie Review: superb and dense examination of the rulers of today's world
Summary: 5 Stars
Based on sceenwriter Joel Bakan's book, "The Corporation: A Pathological Pursuit of Power", this compelling documentary is a lengthy (145 minute) disquisition on the place of the corporation in the world today, a brief on its history and the disquieting notion that the profit motive of large transnationals has all but usurped the democratic voting processes of governments. Of course it is largely a left-wing work, but it is much more nuanced and wider-ranging than something like Michael Moore's works and contains long interviews with numerous luminaries from the academic, activist and corporate worlds. I wish that the filmmakers had chosen other, more eloquent and less out-of-touch intellectuals on the right than the sole example we see (Milton Friedman) but on the whole it's a stunning, depressing work with mere glimmers of hope near the end. Those that have read Kirkpatrick Sale (Rebels Against the Future) will be at home in this work.
The film is structured in a multitude of chapters; at first short, terse, more humorous and wide-ranging, but gradually building to a climax of sorts as it gives more detailed views of "case studies" to support its thesis that a corporation, if it really were a person (and, in the USA, it is in many ways a legal human), would be considered pathological in its total disregard for anything other than the profit motive. One great piece involves the whistleblowers who produced a significant documentary about Monsanto's pushing rBGH into milk production and lying about its harmful effects, only to see the powerful corporation for which they worked (FoxNews) rework the film to placate Monsanto, then fire them....an even more awful example of the negative motives of these transnationals is the story of how California-based Bechtel at one point owned the rights to all water in on of the largest cities in Bolivia -- including rainwater -- and forced people to pay up to a quarter of their pay to have the right to drink (and live).
Interviewees, besides Friedman and Moore (much more restrained and thoughtful here than usual) include Chomsky, Zinn, Janet Akre (former FoxNews correspondent), Naomi Klein and several current and ex-CEOs, most notably Ray Anderson the CEO of Interface, the largest commercial carpet manufacturer in the world and one of the few execs who seems to really be looking at the larger, environmental and holistic picture. Other CEOs come off as completely unaware, or uninterested in, anything besides their stockholders, and Friedman makes the cogent (if coldblooded and amoral) statement that corporations only know how to make profit, so why be involved in something they don't understand (like a healthy environmental outlook).
One of the best new documentaries I've seen in years, an absolute stunner. The film's website is excellent and a great resource.
Movie Review: critical of non-accountability, not of the profit motive
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a fascinating film. It's pretty long, but held my interest the entire time. It is not an indictment of capitalism or the profit motive, rather a challenge to the complete lack of accountability corporations have for their decisions. The central idea of the film is that corporations will follow the law, or do what is right, only when doing so is cost-effective.
Seeking profit is not inherently wrong, but if all other concerns are subordinated to the profit motive, then you effectively have a psychopath on your hands. That conclusion seems a bit gimmicky when first presented in the film, but makes more sense as you progress. If a corporation is given the legal status and prerogatives of a person, it is not at all farfetched to judge it by the same standards we would judge a person by. And by conventionally recognized standards of behavior, a person who acted as corporations act, who made his decisions as corporations make their decisions, would be diagnosed as a psychopath and considered to be a danger to those around him. This is a critical insight, and should not be rejected out of hand.
Psychopaths don't ALWAYS do bad things; they do bad things only when they think those things are in their best interests. They aren't constrained by any feelings of empathy, sympathy, responsibility, guilt, or any of the feelings that restrain the rest of us. Even breaking the law is easy for a psychopath if he thinks he won't get caught, or if the penalty isn't too scary.
The parallels to corporations are easy, and actually pretty obvious. Corporations will do good and provide useful services as long as that is conducive to their bottom line. When dumping toxins in the water supply or supporting dictators who keep labor under control is more conducive to the bottom line, then that is what they do. This film is not a socialist rant against the profit motive or against capitalism, but against a legal construct that is allowed by our government to wield large amounts of wealth and power, but with no commensurate control, oversight, or accountability. The film does not preclude other forms of business ownership, only those that don't involve accountability for the decisions made by the people in the business.
If you consider accountability and responsibility to be nutty "liberal" ideas, then you may not find much of value in the movie. And to those who say that the proper sphere of accountability is to be found in a market, I would point out that we don't allow con-men, thieves, or hit-men to operate with impunity, relying on the market to show them how much we disapprove of what they are doing.
Movie Review: The Legalization of Plunder and it's Consiquences...
Summary: 5 Stars
I sat around this weekend and watched this DVD twice to take it all in. Although this documentary may present to us what we already know about these 'evil doer' corporations, it gives compelling evidence as to what the intent of corporations are and the consiquences to all of us. This documentary will show you what the ecology of commerce really is.
The most interesting aspect of this DVD to me was when they had some phsycologists go through a list of syptoms charachteristic of a phsychopath and they were exactly the same behavioral charachteristics of corporations. I liked it most how the leading FBI criminal phsycologist compares the two and comes out with the same conclusion, that corp's and phsycopaths behave in the same manner! The comparitive analysis was incredibly thought provoking!
Although I am at heart a capitalist (maybe reminiscent of Cold War), I believe that we must have some type of responsible, democratic type of capitalism. I guess 'sustainability' is a better word because if we keep going in the same direction, not only will the growing gap between the rich and the poor not be able to hold, but the environmental impact may soon reach a point of irreversability and that is worse than anything else because every living creature shares the same fate on this planet, this is a reality that can not be denied no matter what your political beliefs are. This DVD will show you that every form of life on this planet is in some sort of systematic decline, including us with all of our sicknesses and cancers. Just turn off the TV for a day and take a look around you! These issues are also addressed in this movie.
In conclusion I would like to say that we can not blame the corporation itself because it is not a person and therefore has no conscience. The responsibility is OURS. They do only what they were disigned to do and that is be profitable and improve the bottom line. They are only accountable to their shareholders and there has to be something done about that because of the total disregard it has for others and life in general. Corporations are an invention of the human mind and therefore can be dismantled. These companies ALWAYS LOSE when faced with staunch resistance and the threat of exposure. In my opinion, the greatest battle will be within us. Will we as a people continue to fail in our oversight of our own government, which belongs to us and is supposed to keep these corp's at bay? Or will we continue to allow the corporate shark to devour our system of gov't and beliefs just because we want to get doped up on shopping...? This self-destructive attitude has to be addressed very soon...
Movie Review: Today's dominant institution
Summary: 5 Stars
The Corporation is today's dominant institution. This awkward entity is considered a "person" by law, but has all the characteristics of a psychopath when examined closely : it shows no emotions nor feelings, has no conscience, is incapable of experiencing guilt, and its sole purpose it is to make profits, no matter how.
Therefore corporations are very fond of fascist regimes, such as Nazi Germany, where IBM offered support with their machines counting the deaths in the concentration camps. Corporations themselves sometimes behave as mass murderers, like the asbestos companies. They sometimes hire murderers, like Chiquita did in Colombia, to kill syndical leaders. Corporations deplete our natural resources, like Big Oil does. Corporations pollute our environment and our food with artificial chemicals, causing a cancer epidemic, affecting nowadays 44 % of the men and 38 % of the women, following Dr. Samuel Epstein.
Corporations are so powerful that they are never prosecuted. If necessary, they change the legislation to suit their interests. They even succeeded patenting things that were impossible to patent - life itself, as Jeremy Rifkin explains.
Corporations got so powerful they determine how governments should behave, even if they go broke. Then the government must help them, socializing the losses to the people in general.
Corporations always want to make more and more money. They see "business opportunities" in every imaginable service to the people. Noam Chomsky gives his point of view on the privatizations we suffered in the last decades : "Privatization does not mean you take a public institution and give it to some nice person; it means you take a public institution and give it to an unaccountable tyranny". In this movie the example is showed of the privatization of Cochabamba public water in Bolivia, but you can also consider what Enron did in California, what the "health companies" did with health care in the US (look at Sicko by Michael Moore), what the pension funds are doing with our expected retirement money, etc.
Michael Moore sometimes wonders why companies finance his films, but then he considers that when he succeeds making money for the big media companies, they're fine with whatever he says. Corporations think people are too numb to do something. Moore hopes however that people will stand up from the couch, and do something. Will you ?
Movie Review: Repeated viewings required
Summary: 5 Stars
I saw this film for the first time in theaters with my father and we both had the same opinion: What was the message of the film suppose to be? That corporations are bad? Well, any thinking, caring, logical human being wouldn't come to that conclusion. Yes, they are responsible for harm. Yes, they need more accountablity. Yes, their engaged in a menage-a-trois with governments and politicians, we know all this. Although this film exposes all of this, it's repeating information for those who know all of this already. But, there's a twist.
Some of the voices and most of the damning info and statements come from CEO's from some of the biggest corporations on the planet. Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, formerly CEO of Royal Dutch-Shell, and Ray Anderson, CEO of Interface, show the humanity and what we wish all CEO's of these huge corporations would be. It's strange how the most immoral attitudes come from Mark Ressler and Lucy Hughes who are chief executives of huge advertising agencies. They don't care how their advertising affects people, especially kids, as long as that product logo is burned into the public's conscious. Lucy Hughes' Inititave Media spends TWELVE BILLION DOLLARS advertising to kids, at a time when schools are struggling for money. I counted the number of cuts in a Chucky Cheese commercial that they show. Seventeen cuts in nine seconds, it's no wonder so many kids have ADD (I'm joking there, kind of.) The genetic manipulation part was the scariest part of the documentary. The media manipulation part didn't suprise me. There was the section where they talked about revoking the corporate charter of Unocal. Personally, I thought they should have gone after Monsanto personally, after everything they've done in Vietnam, RbGH, etc. All in all a wide range of topics. Details are impresive in this doc.
Marc Achbar, the films director, producer, etc., knows how to ask the questions that seem to cut through the subjects and that get the best answers. He does his research and he knows what to shoot that will get the best effect. Brilliantly edited by Jennifer Abbot from a mountain of footage and using excellent older short films and documentaries. Their commentary tracks add to the facts, enhance them, and update them
You see differnt things everytime you watch it. Their are also trailers of the second disc of other related films. I can't wait to see those.