Late in Craig Zobel’s searing psychological drama, Compliance, one character remarks, “I did a bad thing.” It’s the kind of realization that would have been useful 30 minutes earlier, but also one only hindsight could make so clear. Zobel asks his audience to take a leap into a very weird world where orders trump common sense and morals, but the film’s weirdest note is in its first frame, which tells us Compliance is based on a true story.
