Compliance (2012), Craig Zobel
- IMDB.COM: Rating: 6.3 (8,000+ votes); Metascore: 68 (40+ critics)
- ROTTEN TOMATOES: Tomatometer: 89% (93-102)
- TOP7 NEWSPAPERS: 83 AVG, no 4-star reviews
One of the synopses of the Compliance (courtesy of IMDb.com): “When a prank caller convinces a fast food restaurant manager to interrogate an innocent young employee, no-one is left unharmed. Based on true events.“ Curious and confused, I spent the entire movie disclaiming what was happening right before my eyes, right until the very end when I realized that an unthinkable horror as this one is actually more tangible than any form of serial killing. The thing that the entire plot makes horrific is our grasp of the problem almost from the start of the phone call; we know that it is a unsavory prank, yet we cannot come to terms with the fact that as mere observers, we are helpless in sabotaging more and more conspicuous crime. Although induced by the third party, the crime is additionally abused via other characters – even the ultimate victim – who, in order to avoid the trouble with authorities, become accomplices, serious accomplices in that, since with their help what comes to fruition is an actual rape. Craig Zobel, the director, creates the atmosphere of expecting a shark put showing us her back fin that slices through the salt water. We know what comes next, but the strings of clarification are in someone else’s hands. He also so skillfully drags us from a completely safe and harmless situation into the terror impossible to hide from, for the power of manipulation alters previous roles of ex-associates. I newly formed crisis, those associates are now strangers, and conscious attitudes are being replaced by subconscious reactions. True rapist in this entanglement is obviously the fear, since the small-town people responsible for assisting in the rape are incapable of shedding it just so they could observe the entire situation for a more rational angle that would let them delineate the boundary between use and misuse of the law. Just like The Thing, the fear we’re experiencing here is at the same time multifaceted and faceless, therefore the greater and more disturbing. If I need to add some epithet to it, Compliance is, without any doubt, the most controversial film of the year.
P.S. My most sincere compliments for the title. Compliance sums up everything so perfectly I could change all that I’ve stated here with that one term and basically get the same review.
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