Compliance

This is an impressive and unexpected feature from Craig Zobel, one of the creators of the amusing and silly websiteHomestar Runner. Although you should know as little as possible about the plot before you see the movie, it does help to know that the credulity-defying events depicted in this film are based on actual stories that have happened more than once in America's recent past. The film explores the deep human flaw of unquestioningly following authority without exercising one’s own free will or powers of rational thought. It’s a difficult movie to watch; many walked out during its Sundance screenings, and I image there will be many more who walk out of the multiplexes.  But the cast is strong and though I had trouble fully identifying with the characters they created, I did believe in them. 

Still, writer/director Zobel doesn’t quite convince when the really bad shit starts to go down. It’s my constant complaint that telling a story based on real events doesn’t excuse a filmmaker from creating convincing behavior and motivation, and as visceral and immediate as this film is, it still puts the audience at an intellectual distance from the subjects. It's the type of movie that Lars von Trier or Michael Haneke could have made with more outrage, and that Roman Polanski could have made with more artistry. I found myself wishing Compliance were more extreme in either of those directions, but it's still a substantial piece of work.