Unless I overlooked a crucial detail, this is basically the Milgram expirement being done by a non-academic and under the sort of conditions that would never make it past an IRB committee. Which makes it not being mentioned in your review seem like something of an oversight. I mean if you have to really wonder how such a thing is possible, look no further then the Milgram expirements, where 66% of the participants went (or at least were lead to believe that they were) going much further then simple stripping and humiliation.
-Jeremy

In the real-life incident that the movie is based on,

In the real-life incident that the movie is based on,

I paid a bit more attention to the incident at the time it happened than most people, partly because I myself was an assistant manager at a fast-food place. I knew that some of the other managers I worked with were stupid, but I was surprised at this story.

And aside from the fact that detaining the employee like that (even without searching her at all, much less the even worse stuff) was clearly inappropriate, I found it hard to believe that the assistant manager didn't just tell the "police officer" that she didn't have time to do his job for him in the first place. That's exactly what I would have done. I would probably have told him what time the employee's shift ended, and promised not to tip her off or send her home early, so she'd be there if they came for her before the end of my shift, but if it's too fucking minor for them to send somebody out, it's too fucking minor for me to waste my time on.

I never heard of this story until now, it is indeed shocking that people would go that far to please their boss by "following orders" I would never even consider doing anything like that for a split-second.

Actually, I don't think it's shocking that a person would follow the orders of their boss to this degree. What I find shocking is the boss following the orders of the (alleged) cop to such a point.

Interesting thought pattern there Vexer, I never considered it from quite that angle. The boss is the one doing something morally reprehensible, while the employee is just well, stuck in an unfortunate situation.
-Jeremy

Well those who are "following orders" in spite of better judgement are just as guilty, i'd gladly take being fired over strip-searching someone for no real reason.

It sounds like this is a film that should be compulsory viewing for 90% of the population of this country. Teaching people about the importance of thinking for oneself is always a good thing.

Being the subject of Oscar buzz should be an unadulterated thrill, but for one first-time contender it has come at considerable expense.

Ann Dowd, a veteran character actress, earned the best reviews of her career for her performance as a restaurant manager targeted by a sadistic prankster in Craig Zobel’s controversial indie Compliance. The low-budget film was one of the standouts at January’s Sundance Film Festival, where it was acquired by Magnolia Pictures, which released it this fall. It never played in more than 21 theaters and grossed just $319,285. But Dowd’s performance, for which she was paid just $100 per day for 16 days, resonated enough to land her -- with virtually no campaigning -- the National Board of Review’s best supporting actress award and Indie Spirit and Critics’ Choice award nominations.

Matt Cowal, Magnolia’s senior VP of marketing and publicity, tells THR they would have -- if Compliance had made money. “This is a film that, unfortunately, we’re going to take a loss on,” he says. “If it had worked, like some of our films have, we would have supported Ann with a terrific end-of-the-year awards campaign, like we did for Melancholia and I Am Love.” Instead, he says, “When a film is already out on DVD, supporting actress awards buzz does help, but it’s not a game-changer on the film’s bottom line, so we just are trying to be as responsible as we can.”

Dowd, a soft-spoken, working-class wife and mother of three kids, tells THR that the lack of screeners from Magnolia -- while her fellow contenders, few of whom have garnered the number of accolades that she has and almost all of whom were better compensated, had theirs paid for -- prompted her and her husband to make a difficult decision: to foot the bill themselves, putting $6,000 on their credit card and borrowing $7,000 from friends. They feel that this might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for her and that a nomination could change the course of her career, so they want to give her a fighting chance.

Wow...just wow. The amount of money these companies throw away on shit, literally, shit, that they can't dish out for some fucking screeners. I seriously hope she does well come of this...

They sent out COMPLIANCE on DVD as part of an end-of-the-year screener pack.

That's bit different than traditional screeners, I understand why Dowd wasn't pleased with this. You need to emphasis the title as a screener, who knows how many just tossed away that pack without seeing Compliance was in it(what else was in that pack? and you're a critic, not sure if what you get is what academy members get. and vice versa)