Compliance tells a story you wouldn’t believe, if it weren’t true. A man claiming to be a police officer telephones a fast food restaurant. He convinces manager Sandra (Ann Dowd) that an employee is suspected of robbery. His broad description matches cashier Becky (Dreama Walker), and over the next few hours Sandra and her fiancé Van (Bill Camp) confine, interrogate and assault the poor girl with increasing severity.

This really happened. In 2004, a man named David Stewart was charged for multiple such calls across the United States over many years. The incident that directly inspired Compliance went further than all others. Without any physical contact or proximity to the crime, Stewart was acquitted. There’s little question he was responsible, but was he responsible? If I asked you to jump off a bridge, would you do it? What if I said I was from the Department of Bridge Safety, and your cooperation would really help us out?

Compliance makes the point that well-meaning people can commit great wrongs without realizing it. I’m not sure this is true for most people. It probably took Stewart many unreported calls to find the patsy he needed. And yet Sandra is a good person. So good, in fact, that she wouldn’t dare question a police officer. “Officer Daniels,” as the caller (Pat Healy) names himself here, has an explanation for everything. He frequently risks exposure due to the sheer implausibility of his claims, but Sandra does not let suspicion supersede her civic responsibility.

The less you know about Stewart’s case the more you may get out of this movie. I knew a lot, and writer / director Craig Zobel is regrettably faithful – Compliance is not “inspired by” or “based on” true events as much as it replicates them. This isn’t a story, it’s the dramatization of a Wikipedia page. What pushes the film beyond exploitation and makes it well worth seeing are the performances. Dowd, with her frightening portrayal of fretful obedience, deserves an Oscar nomination. Walker plays a role that requires bravery and she brings it. It’s a shame Zobel doesn’t think to give her character Becky more inner life. She could have been less the passive victim her real-life counterpart seemed to be. A few dramatic liberties, even for an event this painfully fresh in memory, are permitted for any movie.

Zobel’s impossible challenge forgives his failures, to a degree. Short of having every participant, including Stewart, explain themselves, even the deeply cynical would find this story hard to believe. The director tries to curb such criticisms, flashing “BASED ON TRUE EVENTS” across the screen, and letting characters explain themselves in a deflating final act. Imperfect defenses of indefensible actions.

Director: Craig Zobel
eOne, 90 minutes
Rating: 3.5/5