The Corporation was written by Joel Bakan and based on his own book, The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power. The documentary begins slowly informing the viewer in a long and drawn out manner about the history of the corporation from it's beginnings in the industrial era through to it's world dominance today.

Well-known theorists such as Noam Chomsky and Naomi Kline are interviewed amongst others highlighting some of the worst examples of corporate behaviour. Michael Moore makes many appearances and talks about how he tried  to persuade the CEO of Nike, Phil Knight, into taking a trip with him to Indonesia to visit the country's sweat shops. Moore's plan is unsuccessful but his message of corruptness amongst huge corporations is clear.

This is a cleverly produced documentary, taking the Supreme Court's legal definition of a corporation as "a person" and then asking a psychologist what kind of person that would be , the  resounding answer is a psychopath. The Corporation cites the dangers of corporate power using major companies including IBM, Nike, Liz Clairborne, Bechtel, Gap, Shell as examples. There's repetition and a lot of ground is covered on the brutality of corporations focusing for sometime on the use of sweatshops in the Third World. This film unfolds fascinating stories including one about two investigative journalists. They recount how they were pressured by their employers (Fox News) into killing a cancer story about BST, a Monsanto drug which increases cows' milk production.

This is an excellent film with the Filmmakers basing it firmly on interviews and research which makes it all the more compelling. The Corporation concludes on a positive note which is refreshing. After two and a half hours crammed with information and facts, heads may be spinning. Though drawn out at times, this is stiill a compelling documentary and shouldn't be missed.


The Corporation opens on 29th November.
Cert:15's