Compliance (2012)
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(Craig Zobel, US 2012, 90 min., DCP)
Based on an actual event in 2004, this controversial film looks at the plight of minimum wage workers and their susceptibility to manipulation. A fast food restaurant receives a call from someone claiming to be a police officer investigating theft at the restaurant. The manager, Sandra (Ann Dowd), convinced that the police have identified one of her employees, Becky (Dreama Walker), passes on orders from the commanding voice on the telephone. Sandra takes Becky to the back of the store and conducts the investigation, but as the requests become stranger and more lurid, tensions rise and morality is questioned. The 1961 Milgram experiment on obedience to authority comes to mind as the film forces us to consider social control in the workplace. Director Craig Zobel (Mare of Easttown) ratchets up the tension and discomfort in this tight thriller.