The rare movie that sets out to alter the audience's consciousness -- and succeeds.
The Corporation (2004)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:29
Fresh:27
Rotten:2
Average Rating:7.5/10
Consensus: The Corporation is a satisfyingly dense, thought-provoking rebuttal to some of capitalism's central arguments.
Theatrical Release:Jun 4, 2004 Limited
Box Office: $1,350,094
Synopsis: THE CORPORATION is a well-organized and deeply fascinating documentary about the growing prominence of large global businesses, and the way that their decisions are impacting the world. The film... THE CORPORATION is a well-organized and deeply fascinating documentary about the growing prominence of large global businesses, and the way that their decisions are impacting the world. The film shows how corporations have ballooned in size and power since the industrial revolution, and explains the laws and loopholes that allow them to remain nearly unaccountable for their actions. If they break a law, they are willing to admit guilt and pay the fine, because the profits outweigh the penalties. Therefore, they continue to cause serious environmental problems by dumping waste into rivers and oceans and by depleting natural resources, resulting in irreversible damage to the earth which also poses a serious threat to human life. Beyond environmental issues, the film shows how corporations exploit underpaid laborers in third world countries, violate basic human rights, make deals with foreign countries who are known enemies of the U.S., and in some instances perpetuate fascist regimes. Valuable, informative talking-head commentary comes from a diverse group including Ray Anderson, CEO of carpet manufacturer Interface; Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, former chairman of Royal Dutch Shell; Dr. Vandana Shiva, feminist and ecologist; Milton Friedman, Nobel prize-winning economist; Marc Barry, corporate spy; Joe Badaracco, professor of business ethics at Harvard; and activists Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, and Michael Moore. Providing useful references to major news stories that illustrate various corporate developments, and good information about how the system works, THE CORPORATION empowers viewers and shows them that they can realistically enact change. For that reason, this documentary makes real progress, encouraging viewers to take the world's future into their own hands and away from corporations whose sole interest is profit. [More]
Starring: Noam Chomsky, Michael Moore, Howard Zinn, Chris Barrett
Starring: Noam Chomsky, Michael Moore, Howard Zinn, Chris Barrett
Director: Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott
Director: Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott
Screenwriter: Joel Bakan
Producer: Bart Simpson
Composer: Leonard J. Paul
Studio: Zeitgeist Films
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Reviews for The Corporation
This documentary's extra-long running time and a narrator who sounds like a sedated Star Trek computer won't win many converts.
A highly entertaining and instructive look at a subject that's rarely discussed in detail.
Very well informed about the legal origins of corporations and their current near omnipotence.
Snappy and visually spry, with a treasure trove of vintage instructional and industrial film clips, this is an urgent, overlong (more than two hours) work that delivers a timely message about the times in which we live.
If you care about the environment, workers' rights, your own health and your children's future, you need to see this film.
This is another unhelpful screed, uncontaminated by sense or perspective, that preaches loudly to the choir.
An impassioned polemic, filled with information sure to break up any dinner-table conversation.
At its most effective, the movie is a chastening, sobering, and thorough work of film journalism, however shortsighted.
If the filmmakers show a bias (and they do), it doesn't negate their central argument: For better or worse, the trends of global capitalism have changed -- and continue to change -- society as we know it.
It is an antidote to apathy, communicating a guarded sense of optimism about the ability of real people to hold corporations to account for their misdeeds.
It's a movie so chock full of information, so dense with context and analysis that it will keep you thinking and reacting, no matter what your bent or slant -- and no matter where you stand on the world-wide corporate ladder.
Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott and Joel Bakan have crafted an informative, amusing and unnerving overview of the history and consequences of corporations.
If the movie had stuck to its initial thesis ... it would be a great film. Unfortunately it's merely a good one, as it goes off on various tangents and falls in love with its own rhetoric.
Some thorough research, a clear presentation and a nice knit with America's ongoing corporate scandals should prod uninformed viewers to think more deeply about the role of big business in the world.
A dense, complicated and thought-provoking film, but it simplifies its title character.
Latest News for The Corporation
February 10, 2008:
WashingtonPost.com: The undercurrent of this exhaustive critique is really all about good and evil, and in what ways often sordid human history is determined, not as a product of malice, but by the most typical people who could care less. ![]()
More...
January 25, 2006:
SUNDANCE: Wintertime For The Producers
When Sean Covel brought a low budget indie film he produced to Sundance in 2004, he had no idea how it would be received.
“We had no barometer, he said. “When it first... More...
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