A fascinating documentary looking at the increasing power of large global businesses and the impact this is having on society. 'The Corporation' is Winner of 26 International Awards and 10 Audience Choice Awards. The documentary 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 video originally embedded here is no longer available on YouTube.)
'The Corporation' looks at the rise of the corporate body as having the legal status of a "person" and uses a provocative personality metaphor to criticize corporate incentives and their effects on people and resources. That is the film’s argument, not a clinical diagnosis of an organization. The film also touches on trends discussed at the time of the documentary to awaken morally and infuse ethics into the equation, to halt and then reverse the past damages that have been inflicted.
A sequel: two of the original filmmakers, Joel Bakan and Jennifer Abbott, returned with The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2020 and looks at corporations that present themselves as socially responsible.
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Follow the argument as well as the interviewee
A documentary builds relationships between testimony, examples and narration. The presence of several viewpoints does not remove the filmmaker's choices about order and emphasis. Watching those choices helps explain how the film reaches its conclusions.
The comparison between a corporation and a personality is part of this film's critical framework, not a clinical diagnosis of an organization. As you watch, separate a documented case from the general claim it is used to support. Which additional evidence would connect the two? That question allows the film to be considered seriously without treating its framing as the only possible account of corporate behavior.
Explore a related story: Paradise or Oblivion: The Venus Project's Proposed Social Model.
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