VIFF review: The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel finds capitalism running even further amok
Joel Bakan and Jennifer Abbot entertainingly expose a new cast of nauseating villains
Streams September 24 to October 7 as part of the Vancouver International Film Festival, via VIFF.org
IF UNILEVER VP John Coyne cheerfully admits that his conscience was troubled by 2003’s The Corporation—which he does, right at the start of this sequel—he also adds that big business simply adapted to a PR crisis by adding the promise of “social responsibility” to its apocalyptic program of lies.
Thus we see the endless ouroboros of life under capitalism, which can only absorb and market everything, including its own exposure. It’s a bottomless hell given a snappily entertaining sheen by returning filmmakers Joel Bakan and Jennifer Abbot, with pundits including Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, UBC’s Peter Dauvergne, and the always on-point Chris Hedges, plus a rather amazing cast of talking heads from the Archonic side of the equation.
Take your pick which of these ratfuckers is the most nauseating. Personally, I’d nominate the duo of Shannon May and Jay Kimmelman, beta-testing privatized education in Africa (naturally) through their Bridge International Academies. “Private schools for the poor,” declares an aroused Kimmelman, “it’s a 51-billion-dollar-a-year market.”
While riffing further on 2003’s definition of corporation-as-psychopath, the New Corporation goes both wider and deeper, eventually diving into the capitalization of the individual through voluntary surveillance—a new phenomenon otherwise known as social media.
This gives way to another painful reality: that Disaster Capitalism runs riot under COVID. And so it goes on. The film is highly recommended, if gutting, but the fear remains that we’re probably just indulging in more resistance porn. Watch and then maybe ditch your phone (if it’ll let you.)
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