This documentary begins with an unusual detail that came from the 14th Amendment: Under constitutional law, corporations are seen as individuals.
Among the subjects are CEOs and top-level executives from a range of industries: oil, pharmaceutical, computer, tire, manufacturing, public relations, branding, advertising and undercover marketing; in addition, a Nobel-prize winning economist, the first management guru, a corporate spy, and a range of academics, critics, historians and thinkers are also interviewed.
Provoking, witty, stylish and sweepingly informative, THE CORPORATION explores the nature and spectacular rise of the dominant institution of our time. Part film and part movement, The Corporation is transforming audiences and dazzling critics with its insightful and compelling analysis. The documentary examines the modern-day corporation, considering its legal status as a class of person and evaluating its behavior towards society and the world at large as a psychiatrist might evaluate an ordinary person. So, filmmaker asks, what type of person would a corporation be?
The Corporation includes interviews with 40 corporate insiders and critics – including Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Milton Friedman, Howard Zinn, Vandana Shiva and Michael Moore – plus true confessions, case studies and strategies for change.
THE CORPORATION is a Canadian documentary film written by Joel Bakan, and directed by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott. The evidence, according to such political activists as Noam Chomsky and filmmaker Michael Moore and company heads like carpet magnate Ray Anderson, points to a bad one, as the film aims to expose IBM’s Nazi ties and these large businesses’ exploitation of human rights.
This is explored through specific examples. Bakan wrote the book, The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power, during the filming of the documentary.
Awards: Genie Award for Best Feature Length Documentary
Directed by: Mark Achbar, and Jennifer Abbott.
Produced by: Mark Achbar, and Bart Simpson.
Written by: Joel Bakan, Harold Crooks, and Mark Achbar.
Narrated by: Mikela J. Mikael.
Music by: Leonard J. Paul.
Cinematography: Mark Achbar, Rolf Cutts, Jeff Hoffman, and Kirk Tougas.
Editing by: Jennifer Abbott.
Screenplay: Joel Bakan, Mark Achbar, Harold Crooks
Studio: Big Picture Media Corporation.
Distributed by: Zeitgeist Films.
Release date: June 4, 2004 (USA)
Initial DVD release: April 5, 2005
Official Website: thecorporation.com
