[ThisWeek] The Corporation at the Kenworthy

[thisweek at kenworthy.org]

This week at the Kenworthy-

The Corporation (NR)
Friday, November 19
7:00 PM
Saturday & Sunday, November 20 & 21
4:00 & 7:00 PM
Tickets: $5 adults, $2/child 12 or under
KFS passes valid for Sunday shows
(See Review below)
* * *
Upcoming movies at the Kenworthy-

Spiderman 2 (PG13)
Nov 26 - 28
4:15 & 7:00 PM

Maria Full of Grace (R)
Dec 3 at 7:00 PM
Dec 4 & 5 at 4:30 & 7:00 PM

It¹s a Wonderful Life
Dec 10 at 7:00 PM
Dec 11 & 12 at 4:15 & 7:00 PM

Regular Movie prices:  $5 adults, $2 children 12 and younger.
KFS passes accepted for Sunday movies

508 S. Main Street, Moscow, Idaho
For more information, call 208-882-4127.
* * *
This week¹s review-

THE CORPORATION
Documentary Film
Directed by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott;
Written by Joel Bakan, based on his book ''The Corporation: The Pathological
Pursuit of Profit and Power,''
with narration written by Harold Crooks and Mark Achbar
Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes.
This film is not rated.

As reviewed by by Anita Katz writing for the San Francisco Examiner

As audience-friendly as it is pointed and scarier than anything you'll find
in "Van Helsing," "The Corporation" is a nonfiction horror flick that
presents the big-business company as a psychopathic monster. It makes a
compelling, and entertaining, case for that view.

Using reportage, facts and figures and interviews with seven CEOs, three
VPs, two whistle-blowers, and notables such as filmmaker Michael Moore, MIT
professor Noam Chomsky and economist Milton Friedman, Canadian directors
Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott have created a primer on the growth of the
corporation, from its 19th-century origins as a chartered public-service
entity to its current distinction as the world's most powerful institution.

A corporation, thanks to a bizarre interpretation of the 14th Amendment, is
legally a person, the movie notes, but is designed to put the bottom line
above all else. Addressing the question, an FBI psychological consultant
using a checklist for antisocial behaviors -- reckless disregard for others'
safety and the inability to experience guilt, for starters -- paints a
portrait of the corporation as a psychopath.

The film supports this contention with data galore, examining, among other
things, corporations' exploitation of workers, destruction of the
environment and quest to own everything from airspace to genomes.

Though the filmmakers clearly side with the little guy, their interview
subjects reflect a range of opinion. Chomsky urges a shift from corporate to
public agencies. Moore notes that corporations will distribute his movies
despite their disdain for his anti-corporate ideas because his movies make
money. Friedman talks the free-market line. Ray Anderson, the carpet
super-company chief who emerges as the film's unlikely hero, describes his
environmental awakening and conversion to sustainability practices.

The film succeeds foremost, however, by demonstrating the corporate-greed
factor -- and its colossal impact on the public good -- via a wealth of
cases-in-point that, even in these jaded times, prove disturbing. It should
also be noted, in these days when it tends to take a Michael Moore or a
Morgan Spurlock, rather than a Frederick Wiseman, to attract viewers to
documentaries, that "The Corporation" is no downer and has an engaging,
accessible tone. Many of the interviewees are colorful talkers. And the
film's ultimate message -- that people often have the power to keep
corporations in check -- is a heartening one.


As reviewed by A. O. Scott writing for the New York Times

The film's formal inelegance is a sign of its seriousness, and also of the
complexity of its chosen subject. The topic, after all, is intricate and
global, and Mr. Achbar and Ms. Abbott address it with spiky, dogged
intelligence, if also with hectoring persistence.

Corporate power is at once self-evident and elusive, mundane and esoteric,
aggressive and insinuating. In the view of the filmmakers and most of their
interview subjects, it is always bad and never to be trusted. The imperative
to expand makes the corporation a fundamentally predatory being, gobbling up
everything in its path -- natural resources, populations of potential
laborers and consumers, public spaces and private aspirations -- without
conscience or accountability.

In other words, ''The Corporation'' is a monster movie, and nobody, faced
with so much alarming testimony, would want to defend Godzilla as he smashes
buildings and tramples streetcars. But like other, less sophisticated
efforts to articulate a comprehensive anti-corporate ideology, this movie
occasionally ensnares itself in contradictions it does not quite
acknowledge. 

What is missing from ''The Corporation'' is any recognition that capitalism
survives at least as much on seduction as on coercion, and that it has
flourished not simply by means of chicanery and domination but by extending,
and often fulfilling, promises of freedom, creativity and individual choice.

It may sound strange to say this about a left-wing documentary, but ''The
Corporation'' might have benefited from a bit more Marxism. Marx, among the
first to identify the malign features of capitalism, was also a persuasive
analyst of its dynamism, its progressiveness and its corrosive effect on
older forms of political and cultural authority.


As reviewed by Kim Lesch, originally published in: Lumière Reader 4, Winter
2004

Michael Moore, saint 'o Cannes, has been receiving some bad press as of
late. Upon viewing another truth seeker's film, ³The Corporation,² I see him
receiving some more, despite his generous nature to include himself in this
gem. "And why is this?" you might inquire. It is due to Moore's skills as a
truth teller, narrator, and whip smart filmmaking savvy. ³The Corporation,²
put simply, will not only scare the stuffing out of you, it will raise the
poignant question of what aims he has in the face of the documentary in its
finest, non-personality driven form.

Fair enough, there is no criticism to be had for a man who has made his
dough by working hard and being intelligent enough to keep a decent share of
rights and royalties. But during his crowning weeks of glory at Cannes, the
recipient of the Palm d'Or from another director who likes to put himself in
front of the camera, people are beginning to question the ethics of the Most
Ethical Filmmaker in the World.

But I gigantically digress! The point: ³The Corporation² seeks to instigate
thought and action from its viewers by exposing the sickly white underbelly
of corporate success. This non-personality driven piece delves into how
corporations enable themselves to have the legal rights of a human being,
how they justify illegal actions that cause damage to humans, the
environment, and animals, and how they are now snatching up the rights to
our very DNA. There are plenty more sins to mention, it's a long film, just
know that the film is completely packed with information, O.K.?

Reviews researched and edited by Peter A. Haggart
* * *

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PAMELA PALMER, Volunteer
Mailto:ppalmer at moscow.com
Film and Events Committee
Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre

http://www.kenworthy.org
To speak with a KPAC staff member,
call (208) 882-4127
Mailto:kpac at moscow.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  

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