documentary: Inside the corporation
Sally Rudd, The Peak

In today's era of globalization and free-market capitalism , there has been a steady erosion of public control over private corporations. Considering that corporations directly affect the lives of Canadians and of people all over the world, there has been a severe lack of public discourse and education on this issue. The documentary, The Corporation, tries to fill this void and to encourage debate. Using an exquisite combination of humour and horror to make its message, The Corporation provides a much needed examination of one of society's most powerful institutions.

Although the film does have a radical streak (it diagnoses the corporation as a psychopath), it provides a balanced and in depth analysis of corporate activities. It holds appeal not only for the "protest-crowd" but also for moderates, and yes, maybe even conservatives. For example, along with interviews of Noam Chomsky, Michael Moore, and Naomi Klein, the film also gives space to business representatives, such as the former chairman of Royal Dutch Shell and the CEO of Interface (one of the largest carpet manufactures), and to economists, such as Michael Walker, President of the Fraser Institute.

The Corporation covers issues that are relevant to everyone. For investors, the film shows how corporate crime is not just limited to a few "bad apples." For international labour advocates, the film inspects the conditions and wages in the factories of corporations in less developed countries. For consumers, the film exposes the health dangers of Monsanto's Bovine hormone, which is given to cows in America to make them produce more milk. For conspiracy theorists, the film documents how Monsanto was able to prevent Fox News from airing its exclusive on the Bovine hormone. For parents, the film describes the extent to which corporate marketers plot to get their children to nag for their products.

For environmentalists, the film details the devastating actions of chemical corporations such as Dupont Chemical. For those fighting for international social justice, the film explains the consequences of a water privatisation scheme in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and the local people's struggle to win back control of their water from a foreign corporation. Lastly, the business class might be interested in the film to get an idea of how business may hopefully change in the future.

Seven years in the making, the creators put a tremendous effort into this film, and when they ran out of funding, they were dedicated enough to fund it out of their own pockets. The masterminds behind this film are Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott, and Joel Bakan. Mark Achbar is best known for co-directing Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media. Jennifer Abbott is an internationally recognised documentary maker, editor, media artist, and cultural activist whose past works include A Cow at My Table, a feature documentary about the agribusiness vs. animal rights controversy and the battle for the consumer's mind. Joel Bakan is a renowned legal theorist and a law professor at UBC. Along with being a Rhodes scholar, Bakan also has law degrees from Dalhousie and Harvard. While making the documentary, Bakan also wrote the book The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power, which will be released by Penguin Canada in March 2004.

The official world premiere of the documentary was at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2003, but keeping true to the grassroots spirit of the film, the unofficial premiere was before this at a rave sponsored by the Squamish nation of British Columbia. The Corporation played three sold out shows at the Vancouver International Film Festival this year, where it received many spontaneous outbursts of applause and cheers from the crowd and was voted the Most Popular Canadian Film at the festival.

This thought provoking documentary should not be missed.

There will be a free showing of The Corporation at the downtown Vancouver Public Library on Wednesday, November 5 at 6:30 p.m. For more information and updates on the film, the Web site is www.thecorporation.tv .

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