The Corporation (DVD) by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott

At the screening I attended of this provocative documentary, The Corporation, one of the Directors, Mark Achbar, was in attendance for a Q&A session. One audience member harangued him over the limited number of ‘worthy’ corporate executives interviewed. Maybe that person needs this DVD, because it would seem to have an additional 5 hours of footage from the 40 or so interviewed persons. The Corporation explores how business came to have such open slather on legal and financial power, when originally corporations were created for the common good, such as building expensive infrastructure for a city. The movie jumps around some, as it cherry picks examples from the multitude of ill-tidings that corporations have wrought. But it retains a central theme: that the definition of a psychopath appears to be a perfect match for many a corporation. Except, of course, that they are not an individuals and therefore avoid the laws and strictures that the rest of us live by. A plethora of case studies are presented to ram home this psychopathic analogy. And although a little drawn out in parts, it contains very often compelling viewing, like the stunning gall of water business, Bechtel, who deemed it fair and reasonable to charge its Bolivian customers for harvesting their own rainwater. Those customers revolted — literally — revealing that David can indeed smote Goliath ... if the planets are in alignment and people work together. View this, get fired up and then go support your locale community co-operative.