The Corporation

"The corporation as psychopath..."

2003 2h 25m EN

🙌

7.6

BANGER

🍅

89%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

IMDB

★7.6TMDB · 291🍅89%Rotten Tomatoes●73Metacritic★8IMDB · 22,078

Documentary

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

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.

“The corporation as psychopath...”

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Where to watch · US

Cast

Jane Akre
Self
Ray Anderson
Self
Maude Barlow
Self
Michael Moore
Self
Noam Chomsky
Self
Mikela Jay
Narrator (voice)
Rob Beckwermert
Actor - Dramatizations
Christopher Gora
Actor - Dramatizations

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Mark Achbar
Writers: Mark Achbar, Joel Bakan
Languages: English
Countries: Canada

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 23 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "The Corporation Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Mark Achbar, shot by Mark Achbar. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Leonard J. Paul. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jennifer Abbott shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Jane Akre and Ray Anderson and Maude Barlow carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The corporation as psychopath...".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

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IMDB entry: tt0379225 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Mark Achbar directs. Mark Achbar behind the camera. Leonard J. Paul scores. Jennifer Abbott cuts. Produced in Canada. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 23 years ago.
2Part of the "The Corporation Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
3Directed by Mark Achbar, shot by Mark Achbar. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Leonard J. Paul. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Jennifer Abbott shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Jane Akre and Ray Anderson and Maude Barlow carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "The corporation as psychopath...".
8IMDB entry: tt0379225 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 13 themes, including "canada", "capitalism", "politics", "political activism".
10Released under 10 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Mark Achbar
Original score: Leonard J. Paul
Editing: Jennifer Abbott
Runtime: 145 min · 2h 25m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Box office: $4,500,000
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: The Corporation (2003)
Rotten Tomatoes: 89% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 73/100
IMDB rating: 8/10 · 22,078 votes
MPAA: Not Rated

Awards

12 wins & 1 nomination total

Sundance World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary
Genesis Award

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Part of

The Corporation Collection

A series about the corruption within different corporations.

Also by

Mark Achbar

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

GenerationofSwine2023-01-14
★ 10/10
This is interesting, but dated. Back in 2003 the left was still anti-corporation, they didn't support the outsourcing of jobs, they didn't support the accountability that theses institutions had they were fairly unified in their condemnation of it. Today there is a clear shift and we aren't seeing that much of it, Nike hasn't changed their practices of out-sourcing and sweatshops and are now an iconic brand on one side of the divide. Outsourcing is now supported by the left where "the jobs aren't coming back, deal with it" is a commonly heard phrase there. It wasn't back in 2003. So, watching it in 2003 as opposed to 2018 it's interesting to see a lot of the same faces that once opposed it speaking on the news in favor of how the corporations work today. If memory serves, Noam Chomsky is the only political voice that hasn't made an abrupt shift or dialed it back in the decade plus since it's release. Despite the shift in some of the voices heard in the documentary, it does do an excellent job tracking the evolution of the corporation in the United States, how it started in our earliest days, straight through how it became an individual entity politically, and onto how that identity as a "person" effected our politics. And, at times, it was moving, given that it did treat people who work for corporations very well, even interviewing them so that they can express that, yes, they too had the same concerns as the people protesting them, but were bound by the law to pursue policies that would generate the most profit for their shareholders, which illustrates an interesting problem that is often ignored with discussing the topic. It remains educational today, even if there has been a distinct shift on how the topic and some of the corporations highlighted are handled by the people interviewed for the documentary.

Production companies