Compliance (2012)

AKA: –
Directed by: Craig Zobel
Starring: Dreama Walker (Becky), Ann Dowd (Sandra), Pat Healy (Caller), Bill Camp (Van), Philip Ettinger (Kevin)
Country: United States
Language: English (Optional Eng Subs)
Runtime: 01:29:42
Genres: Based on a True Story, Sexual Harassment –
Women, Psychological Thrillers

Plot – Spoilers:
It’s a busy day at a fastfood joint. Middle-aged manager Sandra has to juggle grave issues like an unexpected shortage in pickles and bacon, the freezer being open overnight, a secret shopper and snide remarks about her mid-life wedding among younger employees. But despite all this, Sandra potters about, handling all of it with a quiet efficiency that suggests she just might triumph over the day.

Then a police offer calls informing her that Becky, a blonde attractive girl working the counter has just been accused of stealing and Sandra will have to strip-search her.

As the hours roll on, so do the demands of the officer, as he mixes compliments with castigations over Sandra’s performance as the on-site law enforcer.

Compliance would seem like a ludicrous story that’s elevated only through a great performance by Ann Dowd (Sandra). That is, if you didn’t realize this actually happened at a McDonald’s outlet. And had been preceded by seventy similar incidents over a decade.

Was Sandra through a lifetime of accepting authority merely playing the corporate sheep. Or was there an element of vindictiveness towards her younger worker quietly buried inside her that shut out logic and incredulity. Sandra’s fiancé was probably less about obeying authority and more about: Here’s an opportunity. And the law is allowing me to go for it.

Also, the fact that the prank was successful so many times urges you to rethink – This would never happen to me.

Triva:
IRL
Becky = Louise Ogborn
Sandra = Donna Summers
Caller = David Stewart

After a lawsuit and several appeals, Louise Ogborn eventually settled for roughly 1 million USD from McDonald’s. Donna Summers was initially also awarded over a million dollars by the courts, though the eventual decision seems unclear. David Stewart was acquitted of all charges, but the calls stopped.