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An epic in length and breadth, this documentary aims at nothing less than a full-scale portrait of the most dominant institution on the planet Earth in our lifetime--a phenomenon all the more remarkable, if not downright frightening, when you consider that the corporation as we know it has been around for only about 150 years. It used to be that corporations were, by definition, short-lived and finite in agenda. If a town needed a bridge built, a corporation was set up to finance and complete the project; when the bridge was an accomplished fact, the corporation ceased to be. Then came the 19th-century robber barons, and the courts were prevailed upon to define corporations not as get-the-job-done mechanisms but as persons under the 14th Amendment with full civil rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (i.e., power and profit)--ad infinitum.
The Corporation defines this endlessly mutating life-form in exhaustive detail, measuring the many ways it has not only come to dominate but to deform our reality. The movie performs a running psychoanalysis of this entity with the characteristics of a prototypical psychopath: a callous unconcern for the feelings and safety of others, an incapacity to experience guilt, an ingrained habit of lying for profit, etc. We are swept away on a demented odyssey through an altered cosmos, in which artificial chemicals are created for profit and incidentally contribute to a cancer epidemic; in which the folks who brought us Agent Orange devise a milk-increasing drug for a world in which there is already a glut of milk; in which an American computer company leased its systems to the Nazis--and serviced them on a monthly basis--so that the Holocaust could go forward as an orderly process.
The movie goes on too long, circles too many points obsessively and redundantly, and risks preaching-to-the-choir reductiveness by calling on the usual talking-head suspects--Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Michael Moore. And except for an endlessly receding tracking shot in an infinite patents archive, there's scarcely an image worth recalling. Still, it maps the new reality. This is our world--welcome to it. --Richard T. Jameson
Description
One hundred and fifty years ago, the corporation was a relatively insignificant entity. Today, it is a vivid, dramatic and pervasive presence in all our lives. Like the Church, the Monarchy and the Communist Party in other times and places, the corporation is today’s dominant institution. But history humbles dominant institutions. All have been crushed, belittled or absorbed into some new order. The corporation is unlikely to be the first to defy history. In this complex and highly entertaining documentary, Mark Achbar, co-director of the influential and inventive MANUFACTURING CONSENT: NOAM CHOMSKY AND THE MEDIA, teams up with co-director Jennifer Abbott and writer Joel Bakan to examine the far-reaching repercussions of the corporation’s increasing preeminence. Based on Bakan’s book The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power, the film is a timely, critical inquiry that invites CEOs, whistle-blowers, brokers, gurus, spies, players, pawns and pundits on a graphic and engaging quest to reveal the 4corporation’s inner workings, curious history, controversial impacts and possible futures. Featuring illuminating interviews with Noam Chomsky, Michael Moore, Howard Zinn and many others, THE CORPORATION charts the spectacular rise of an institution aimed at achieving specific economic goals as it also recounts victories against this apparently invincible force.
2-Disc Special Edition Features:
- More than 8 hours of bonus material
- 145 Minute theatrical version
- Deleted scenes
- 2 Commentary tracks
- 160 Unseen interview clips and updates
- Q's & A's with Director, Writer and Producers
- Joel Bakan's book interview with Janeane Garofalo
- French and Spanish subtitles
- Descriptive audio (for the visually impaired)
- And much more...
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Most helpful customer reviews
23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic Extras,
By
This review is from: The Corporation (Two-Disc Special Edition) (DVD)
Even if I hadn't been one of the filmmakers, I'm sure I would have highly recommended this film, but what Amazon.ca doesn't specify in detail are all the extras, which I put a lot of time (and money!) into creating for your viewing pleasure. DISC ONE * * Two feature audio commentaries: One with co-directors Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott, and one with writer Joel Bakan DISC TWO * * "Topical Paradise" and "Tell Me More": Over 5.5 hours of additional footage of The Corporation's 40 interviewees (and then some), searchable by topic or interview subject I sat down one day and figured out that if you were to watch the film and all the extras, and listened to all the audio commentaries, it would total a 16 hour media experience... I'm not suggesting anyone actually put themselves through that, but the way it's laid out, whatever your area of interest, there's something there for you that will enhance your experience of the film. So enjoy! Well, maybe that's not the right word, but I'm sure you'll get SOMETHING out of this 2-disc set. And check out www.thecorporation.com to find out all kinds of ways you can get involved and make a difference.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Time to increase liability,
By
This review is from: The Corporation (Two-Disc Special Edition) (DVD)
The book and the film is not about eliminating the profit motive, despite what the authors of The Rebel Sell (Joseph Heath & Andrew Potter) have said. This is about passing laws to ensure that corporations are not only accountable to their shareholders, but to all stakeholders as well - a corporation's employees and all the people its business affects. Limited liability and the fact that corporations are seen as people by the law have made corporations, especially multinationals, far too powerful. The film offers a potent political starting point to ensure greater social justice and environmental protection in a world that is increasingly bought and sold by corporations.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A COMPELLING TRUTH !,
By
This review is from: The Corporation (Two-Disc Special Edition) (DVD)
Contrary to the misinformed review by an anonymous "customer" (December 2005), The Corporation video tells it like it is. The truth is not always pretty, but it is necessary to know. Corporations are not benevolent institutions (their primary 'legal' responsibility is to maximize profits for their shareholders). If anyone thinks I'm not telling the truth, you know my real name and my city ... so find me and sue me!
This is one DVD which MUST be shown to every secondary school student before they are allowed to graduate. Not only is it educational and topical, but also highly entertaining! I wish I could give it MORE than 5 stars!
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