Guest Review: Compliance (2012)

A Film Review By Tennessee Jed

Most of us have seen movie posters or trailers touting “based on” or “inspired by” real events. For me, that tends to evoke images of a story so loosely based on facts, any similarity to a real event would be strictly coincidental. Compliance is yet another of the small independent productions to which I have been attracted of late. Directed and written by Craig Zobel, it premiered at the 2012 Sundance Festival. The storyline is generally linked to an actual series of prank phone calls made to fast food restaurants over nearly a decade. This film is based on one particular such incident occurring at a McDonald’s Restaurant in Mt. Washington, Kentucky in 2004.

** spoiler alert **

The title is taken from a term used in experiments by Yale psychologist Stanley Milgrim back in the early 1960‘s analyzing the degree to which subjects were willing to perform acts that differed with their personal code of ethics when ordered to do so by persons in authority. During the premier, several viewers walked out of the following Q&A session feeling the film was demeaning to women. When first viewed, I also felt uncomfortable with the events on screen. Like a gawker at an accident scene, it seemed impossible to not continue watching. At first, the characters and their behavior seem plausible. As the story unfolds, though, I got the distinct feeling the plot was crossing into the realm of fantasy that would turn into some kind of cheap exploitation flick. I was very wrong. These events are all too real, as is the phenomenon being portrayed.

The Events at Chick-wich - Sandra (veteran actress Ann Dowd) is a 50-ish supervisor at the fictional Chick-Wich fast food chain. Becky (Dreama Walker) is a cute 19 year old working the counter. As Sandra prepares for the busiest shift of the week, she takes a call from a person claiming he is Officer Daniels (Pat Healey) from the police and stating he has the regional manager on the other line along with a women alleging an employee stole something from her purse earlier in the day. He claims her story is corroborated by the surveillance unit. He further claims he is involved in searching the suspect’s home, and cannot come to take custody of the suspect for a while. He offers a generic description of a suspect (it could describe half the clerks at most fast food restaurants) but roughly fits Becky. Daniels not so subtly hints that he wants to be able to write favorably in his report of her cooperation, so Sandra agrees to try and help and summons Becky to the office explaining she has been accused of theft.

Becky, of course, denies stealing anything. The caller skillfully switches back and forth between Sandra and Becky to keep them compliant. He convinces both that if Becky doesn’t agree to a strip search, she will likely be arrested, jailed over night, and the incident will be on her official record. She is told to strip naked while Sandra is instructed to carefully examine each article.

Sandra allows her to put on an apron to partially cover herself. To prevent Becky from tampering with possible evidence, Sandra must place the clothing in a bag, and leave it in her unlocked car. She is told to get a male employee to guard Becky, and tells Kevin, a fellow employee, to do so. He is extremely uneasy, and refuses to comply with Daniel’s request to “inspect” her. Daniels is adamant about the need for a cavity search, and convinces Sandra to bring in her fiancee, Van (Bill Camp). When he arrives, Van appears to have been drinking. While Sandra resumes her work duties, Daniels not only convinces Van to conduct the search, but frightens Becky into performing various acts of a humiliating and sexual nature. Feeling guilty, Van leaves, and Daniels tells Sandra she must get yet another male to guard Becky. Becky notices there is monitor in the office covering various surveillance cameras including both the front counter and the office.

The maintenance man, Harold (Kevin Payne) stops by to try the new dessert, and Sandra asks him to come to the office. After listening to Daniels, Harold explodes, and tells Sandra what Daniels ordered him to do. She immediately calls the regional manager who explains he was out sick and never talked with police, confirming to Sandra that she was duped. After three and a half hours, Becky’s ordeal ends, and the real detectives escort her home. In a sort of coda, we learn the man posing as Officer Daniels was apprehended. Sandra has been fired, broken up with Van, and is being sued (along with Chick-Wich Corporate.) The film ends as she is being deposed, and a message stating that over 70 similar incidents have occurred.

How the Real Incident Played Out - After the caller hung up, an employee alertly called *69 before another call came in, and was able to record the number from which the call was placed, a phone card purchased at a Wal-Mart in Florida. In following up with Florida authorities, it was learned similar incidents had been going on for years, although none as long or severe as Mt. Washington. Surveillance cameras at Wal-Mart were able to determine the purchaser of the card used at McDonald’s was an employee of a private security firm named Corrections Corp. of America. Various surveillance stills were used to make a composite, and working with the company’s H.R. department, police identified the suspect as David Stewart, a married father. They also found a card in his home that had been used to call nine restaurants including one on the same day it’s manager was “pranked.” Despite this circumstantial evidence, Stewart was not convicted.

The victim underwent therapy for over three years. She sued McDonalds for $200 million for failure to protect her. The basis was they were aware of the hoax calls and had defended themselves in four other similar lawsuits in different states. The assistant manager, Donna Summers (really!!) was terminated, and her ex-fiancee, Walter Nix sentenced to 5 years for sexual assault. Summers also sued McDonald’s for $50 million. After all the appeals, the victim received just over a million and Summers about $400,000. The incident also formed the basis of a Law & Order S.V.U. episode starring Robin Williams as the caller. I don’t watch that show, but apparently he used the name “Detective Milgram,” a reference to the Yale psychologist. This material on the real incident is taken almost exclusively from a Wikipedia article on the subject, and while I haven’t certified it’s authenticity, it appears amply documented.

Issues and Themes - Without familiarity with the actual incident, It was extremely hard to believe the apparent gullibility and naiveté of Sandra, Becky, or even Van. One initially feels a certain sympathy for those that called the film exploitive. This led me to read more online about the Strip Search Prank Call Scam and the actual Mt. Washington case. It turns out, the events in the film rather closely followed the Kentucky incident. While it easy for viewers to be appalled that Sandra and Becky seem so easily duped, these are most likely unsophisticated people, trusting of apparent authority. The restaurant, in fact used failure to exercise “common sense” as one of the defenses at trial. There has been ample evidence in history of people doing bad things on the orders of their superiors, as well as plenty of legal precedent. Consider war crimes such as the Nazi death camps, or Vietnam atrocities. Van realized what he was doing was wrong, felt remorse afterwards, but still performed unconscionable acts for which he was legally responsible. We don’t know how intoxicated he might have been, but bondage, and humiliation are well known fantasy perversions that may have been somewhat in play for both the caller and fiancee. I’m less certain about Sandra, but many people don’t want to rock the boat. She was harried at the time, and somewhat fearful she would get a bad write-up if she didn’t cooperate.

Conclusions - This film is a bit disturbing, and likely not for everybody. On the surface, it does seem somewhat exploitative. Yet when one considers it is a fairly accurate depiction, it leaves the viewer to ponder some pretty weighty questions. One of the actresses in the production apparently defended the film during the controversy at it’s premiere. The cast is comprised mainly of veteran character actors who do a good job of creating the appropriate atmosphere. The one thing that might not ring true is the young actress Dreama Walker (Gran Torino). She actually does a pretty good job with the Becky character, but is probably a bit too good looking to be truly authentic. In the film’s defense, it does not directly depict any of the sexual acts involved.