No questions asked | 21 March 2013

Compliance is a small film that says big things rather than one of those big films  that say very little, if anything. It’s written and directed by no one you have ever heard of, and stars no one you have ever heard of (I know!; be brave!) yet takes such a rivetingly clear-eyed look at the dark truths of human behaviour and the consequences of accepting authority without question that I don’t think I will ever get it out of my mind. It’s not an easy watch, which is kind of the point, and I’m not even sure what genre it is. Psychological horror? Thriller? But it will haunt and resonate. I saw it a week ago with my husband and we are still discussing it, which, for a pair who ran out of things to say to each other years ago, is quite something. You know those couples who eat breakfast in complete silence in hotels? That’s us!

Compliance is set almost entirely in a fast-food restaurant in Ohio. ChickWich, I think it’s called. Anyway, the manager is Sandra, as played by one of the someones you’ve never heard of, Ann Dowd. Sandra is a middle-aged woman who has already had a stressy day as someone had left the fridge door open the night before, and the bacon has spoiled, and she is prepping for a busy Friday night when she takes a phone call. The call is from a man identifying himself as Officer Daniels. Officer Daniels says one of the staff has stolen money from a customer’s purse. He gives a vague description of this employee, which could be anyone, but Sandra immediately decides it is Becky (Dreama Walker, although it could have been worse; it could have been Sleepa Walker).