Writer(s): Zobel
Starring: Dreama Walker, Ann Dowd, and Pat Healy
“Inspired by a True Story.”
Any time a movie starts off with those words, I can feel my heart sink
into my chest a little bit. Opening with
the fact your movie is “based on a true story” has become such a gimmick in
films over the past few years, and even those movies tend to stretch the truth
about 50% of the time; when we’re dealing with “inspired”, it’s more like 90%.
On a busy night at Chickwich, a random caller, identifying
himself as a police officer, informs the store’s manager, Donna, that one of
her workers stole money from a customer’s purse earlier in the day. That worker is Becky (well played by Dreama
Walker), a young, blond girl who was only there to pick up a shift. He says he has the customer there with him,
as well as surveillance footage that can confirm what she says is true. He also says he’ll be there as soon as he can
get there, but that he’s currently busy with another case, a lie that slowly
grows to involve Becky’s brother. Until
he can get there, he needs Donna to “help him out”…a request that starts off
with a “simple” stripsearch, but over the course of the next couple hours goes
from bad, to unbelievably bad, to unbelievably worse.
Compliance is certainly a frustrating movie to sit
through, but it’s not because of how much the truth has been stretched, which
is startling, considering all the things this movie puts poor Becky through. It’s frustrating because all of the events
depicted herein actually happened, almost exactly as depicted (you can find
surveillance footage from the actual event on YouTube). And it’s frustrating because this isn’t the
only time something like this occurred; the caller responsible for pretending
to be “Officer Daniels” made similar calls to several other fast food
restaurants, and while this was as far as any of them went, several employees
across several restaurants were stripsearched.
But this is a special case, in which the events go far
beyond what you would think human nature would allow. I won’t go into specifics (if you really want
to ruin it for yourself, or don’t plan on watching the movie, articles about it
are everywhere), but I can kind of see why the manager started falling for it
initially. However, once the caller, a
supposed policeman, mind you, started asking questions as to what the victim’s
breasts looked like (supposedly under the pretense of identifying marks), or
ordering people to constantly take her apron away, that’s when I feel like
common sense should kick in.
Unfortunately, for poor Becky, it never does. Well, not until the janitor gets sucked into
the situation, and starts to realize what exactly is going on.
The ending (which showed the ensuing police investigation)
felt a little tacked on, especially considering it was crammed into a small
ten-minute window. The way it was presented
made it feel a little forced and unfocused, especially since there was nothing
that couldn’t have been summarized by a brief scroll of text.
Even more maddening is what happened in real-life after the
incident: The caller is acquitted of all
charges due to a lack of evidence. The
store manager was fired from McDonald’s, yet received a $1.1 million settlement
from them (though, to be fair, the main victim claims she felt the store
manager was also duped in this situation, and was on her side). The main victim received a $6.1 million
settlement, but unsurprisingly also suffered from severe emotional trauma and
PTSD, something she will no doubt have to live with for the rest of her life.
In short, go into this movie prepared to be pissed off. Actually, just go ahead and expect to be
worked up into an uncontrollable rage.
What happened to this poor girl is inexcusable, and made even more
terrifying when you realize that, under the wrong circumstances, this same
thing could happen to just about anyone; you, a family member, or someone you
love.
RECAP: It’s a draining experience, but Compliance accurately details a prank call gone horribly, horribly wrong (well, for
everyone except the caller). There are
several moments that you’ll be mumbling to yourself (or screaming at the TV) in
disbelief, only to find out that it actually happened, while the overall great
acting only adds to the intensity. The
ending felt unnecessary, unfocused, and tacked-on. But for those that can stomach it, this is
virtually a must-see, if for no other reason than as a harrowing glimpse into
human nature, and the things people will do when they believe they are in the
presence of authority. A great,
minimalist score only helps add to the atmosphere.
OVERALL: 7.5/10
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