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| STAR RATINGS EXPLAINED |
| Unmissable |
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| Excellent |
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| Good |
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| Poor |
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| Tragic |
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| FILM DETAILS | Certificate
PG | | Cast
Ray Anderson
Michael Moore
Noam Chomsky. | | | Directors | | | Screenwriters | | Running Time
144 minutes |
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The Corporation
Plot
The planet is in serious trouble. The world's effectively run by vast corporations, whose power supersedes that of any government, and who act with profit driven amorality. So how did they get this powerful, and what can we do about it? This documentary attempts to find out... Review
At a buttock-anesthetising two-and-a-half hours, The Corporation is a pretty tough sell — especially when you consider its big message is essentially ‘the world is fucked’. But what it covers is so fundamentally relevant, and its polemic so persuasively structured, it’s worth braving the runtime even if it could easily have been more concise.
This cinematic remix of Joel Bakan’s book kicks off with the disturbing revelation that, in the eyes of American law, corporations are people. It then asks an FBI profiler to analyse what kind of person a corporation is; he concludes that, given its inherent profit-fuelled selfishness, it must be a psychopath. Then we’re bludgeoned by the evidence, ranging from environmental atrocities to a recent attempt by one corporation to patent life itself (terrifyingly, it succeeded).
Those who lean rightwards may snort at the talking-head presence of Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein and Michael Moore. But the directors do let the
other side have their say — including surprisingly likeable former Shell boss Sir Mark Moody-Stuart.
Besides, it’s easier to dismiss Bakan’s arguments than face up to the fact that, if humanity is to survive, we need a serious rethink of how we let big business treat our world…
Verdict
As sobering as mainlining espresso, this is a compulsive, compelling and potentially life-changing experience.
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