Since the late 18th century American legal decision that the business corporation organizational model is legally a person, it has become a dominant economic, political and social force around the globe. This film takes an in-depth psychological examination of the organization model through various case studies. What the study illustrates is that in the its behaviour, this type of "person" typically acts like a dangerously destructive psychopath without conscience. Furthermore, we see the profound threat this psychopath has for our world and our future, but also how the people with courage, intelligence and determination can do to stop it. [TRAILER]

STEVEN SNYDER'S REVIEW

In promoting “The Corporation,” Zeitgeist Films cites a critic as gushing that it’s “the next ‘Bowling For Columbine!’,” a comparison that is anything but apt.

That Academy Award-winning documentary from director Michael Moore (“Fahrenheit 9/11”) paralleled most of Moore’s work in favoring emotions and anecdotes over analytical arguments, and comparing “The Corporation” to “Columbine” leaves viewers expecting a film of Moore’s scathing sarcasm, reckless wit, and transparent agenda.

“The Corporation,” in reality, is the antithesis of “Bowling For Columbine.” Whereas “Columbine” abandoned facts and theses for passionate diatribes, “The Corporation” ignores these superficial pleasures for an extensive, in-depth analysis of the American capitalist system it believes is spiraling out of control.

In fact, “The Corporation” works better with this approach. I find it remarkable to what degree writer and professor Joel Bakan, along with directors Jennifer Abbot and Mark Achbar (“ Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media”), presents his case. This is no surface commentary, but an astonishingly well-researched, organized, and constructed treatise on an economic and societal system in dire need of attention.

My only word of caution goes to those who will mistakenly expect more of the animation and punch lines of Moore’s work. If Moore’s films are quick sprints for viewers, then “The Corporation” is the most arduous of marathons.

Any review of “The Corporation” will be vastly inadequate. At over 140 minutes, this extended documentary says far more than any review could encapsulate. However, four of the film’s bigger points continue to resonate weeks after the fact:

• Corporations, if indeed individuals (as they have been classified by American courts), would be deemed psychopaths due to their anti-social behavior.

• Short of creating profit for their shareholders, some corporations take more from the planet than they contribute, meaning they have no place in our way of life.

• One day almost all our social interactions will be sponsored or influenced by corporate interests.

• Not only will corporations one day own patents to the human genome, but corporations have already been given authority by the courts to patent and own living organisms.

If reading this list bores you, then “The Corporation” is not your cup of tea. These are only four in a list of dozens of staggering conclusions made by Bakan, all presented in a format just about this exciting. But if you find these thoughts and ideas enticing, then you will likely embrace this documentary and its arguments as a refreshingly substantive addition to the tiresome world of summer cinema.

In elaborating on these ideas, Abbot and Achbar seek out business officials on both ends of the spectrum (although admittedly the pro-business advocates leave something to be desired), and find in Roy Anderson, CEO of Interface, the world’s largest rug manufacturer, the ideal match for their subject matter.

Anderson talks about his company, and how he realized one day that, unless his company could become self-sustaining, it had no place in this world. Similarly, Bakan clearly believes that businesses continue to infringe on our lives – most dramatically in the instance where Disney built its own town in which residents must always appear happy and participate is Disney-sponsored events – and that most corporations, while using up natural resources, requiring the public sector to support their businesses (roads, bridges, etc.), and harming the planet (pollution, waste, etc.), are a net drain on the human species.

Writing it now, this thesis seems like a rather radical argument. The goal of “The Corporation,” however, is to make this notion seem a little more reasonable, and to expose many of the profit-driven corporations for the shallow and parasitic entities that they are.

Yet Bakan concludes that there is still reason to hope. After all, since we created the notion of the corporation, we can also dismantle it.

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