Customer Reviews

The Corporation (Two-Disc Special Edition)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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
* * Janeane Garofolo interviews Joel Bakan on Air America's Majority Report
* * "Q's and A's": A selection of television, radio and festival interview segments with the filmmakers, including segments from CNN Financial, WNYC, WBAI, and Air America
* * Theatrical trailers for The Corporation and Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media
* * Selection of deleted scenes, including additional clips from Michael Moore's The Awful Truth
* * Grassroots marketing video segment

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
* * Plus: Additional trailers, a very cool short film ("What Barry Says"), web links, subject updates, and more! Yes, even more. Like an incredible keynote presentation that Thomas Alan Linzey gave at the Bioneers conference last year (it's the last item in the list of "Strategies For Change".)

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.

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.

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!

If there is a movie you MUST see - this is the one.
Look at all the people they have in the film: http://thecorporation.com/index.php?page_id=3
This film deserves far more attention than it gets right now. And the best thing is that it is funded by Canadian govermental funding institutions and not corporations like Viacom, AOL or Disney. Yes, it did get money from Rogers TeleFund, but if you listen to the makers you find out Rogers had no say in the film. Rogers donated the money to the fund and the independent canadian film makers/some sort of guild decided which project to put the money into.

Wow. This film is a must see. Not demonising anyone or anything, but a very honest assessment of how it is that large (and especially multi-national) corporations are consistently tempted to deliver great evils in the name of generating profits. Very very well presented. Solid research, great interviews, fair conclusions, and enlightening perspectives.

Fantastic, entertaining, enlightening, educational film. I agree - not only every single secondary school student should watch it AND have discussions/debates afterwards in their classrooms with their teachers - ALL adults should watch this wonderful movie - the additional interviews are as important as the movie itself so make sure you watch everything on the dvd. Great Food For Thought. Thanks for making the movie!! ps Watch "Blue Gold: World Water Wars" - a real eye-opener too.

Mark Achbar's review is included inappropriately under this edition of the DVD. It lends the impression that this is a 2 DVD set.

THIS edition is a single DVD. To access and order the 2 disc set (which sounds like it is well worth the money) click on the hot link above Mark's review.

Shame on Amazon for allowing Mark's review to appear under the single Disc edition.

A great testament to the way the corprate world has influenced and shaped our societies and, perhaps, ourselves. We are all bombarded with advertisments from big corportations everyday and we would like to think we can easily give and take from any company that which we will. But is that the case? Do we really have free will when pummelled with advertisments 100 times a day? Wear this brand or drink this drink we are told. What about all the hidden effects corporations have on our world and society that's hidden to most of us behind pretty faces and frosted glass? Why has the modern corporation been able to garner such an enormous clout of power and influence in our economics, politics, and international affairs? This dvd answers all those questions and many many more. Filled with experts from all different fields we get a history lesson into the corporation and the realites of it's effect on our lives and the lives of the rest of the world, both enviromentally, economically, and politically. A must see dvd.

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Thanks to publicly funded broadcasting, I first saw The Corporation on TV over a year ago, but I assume this 2-disc DVD (which is now on my wish-list) contains everything I saw (and then some).

The Corporation is a slick MTV-style documentary that if nothing else is always entertaining to watch. It has ultra-high production values, the right mix of seriousness and humour (thanks to a sprinkling of 1950's era film footage), very catchy music and a rousing ending. But it also drives home a clear message about who's really controlling and benefiting from the current world order. This isn't conspiracy-mongering - everything in The Corporation is occurring right now, and whether that bothers you or not is up to your own sense of morality and justice. One day soon, critics will look back on this little documentary from Canada and remark how prophetic it was.

Some of the things I liked best about The Corporation:

-a good introduction to some difficult concepts, using fun metaphors like a shark to describe corporations as "externalizing machines"

-a very emotional interview with the founder of the environmentally friendly company Interface Inc. concerning the ecological holocaust now taking place in our world

-provocative allegations concerning the extent of the patenting of life forms by corporations

-images of riot police in Quebec and Bolivia beating down peaceful demonstrators to protect corporate interests, which forces the viewer to question how democratic our society is any longer

The latter two-thirds of the film fail to make reference to the initial thesis about the corporation as a psychopath and instead revolve around a series of case studies. Most of these are fascinating, but some seem too forced, especially a section about inter-corporate espionage which is too corny and strays from the central message about the social crimes of corporations. The Corporation also comes up a bit short in describing how we should modify our free-market big business economy to make it better serve the people's interests.

These are minor quibbles, and EVERY informed citizen of the world is obligated to see this documentary and then make up their own mind about whether corporations are the dominant institution of modern times, and whether that's a good or a bad thing. See it to be entertained, and then consider the politics afterward.

... this is absolutely the one. Albeit slightly single-minded in direction and viewpoint, the film is a superb depiction of the late 20th century world where corporations play roles that historically belonged to omnipotent empires.