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Circle of Power
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Wikipedia article
'Circle of Power', also known as 'Mystique', 'Brainwash' and 'The Naked Weekend', is a 1981 film, co-produced by Gary Mehlman, Anthony Quinn and Jeffrey White, and based on the non-fiction book 'The Pit: A Group Encounter Defiled'. It stars Yvette Mimieux in her final film performance.
Plot
Yvette Mimieux plays Bianca Ray, the chief executive of a giant corporation called "Mystique", but the organization is also known as "Executive Development Training", or EDT.Erickson, Hal., [https://archive.today/20090712093901/http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:6936~T0 'Brainwash'] , Overview, Allmovie, retrieved 4/20/2007. Christopher Allport plays Jack Nilsson, a decent all-American young executive.
Top management executives are required to spend a weekend with Bianca Ray at a hotel, where they are put under psychological pressure. As a prerequisite to the training course, participants must sign a waiver giving the company the release to physically and psychologically abuse the individuals in the course. The participants struggle with their shortcomings, such as obesity and alcoholism. Another individual is a closet homosexual, and a fourth is a transvestite. At one point in the film, the obese trainee is forced to eat trash and discarded food in front of the other seminar participants. Eventually, the seminar executives and their wives lose their inhibitions later on in the "consciousness-raising" coursework.
Cast
* Yvette Mimieux as Bianca Ray
* Christopher Allport as Jack Nilsson
* Cindy Pickett as Lyn Nilsson
* John Considine as Jordan Carelli
* Walter Olkewicz as Buddy Gordon
* Leo Rossi as Chris Morris
* Carmen Argenziano as Tony Annese
Reception
The film won a Dramatic Films Award at the 1982 Sundance Film Festival.'Brainwash', Dramatic Films, 1982, Sundance Film Festival, Allmovie, [http://allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:6936~T4] 'Circle of Power' played under the title 'Mystique' at the 1981 Chicago International Film Festival.
A review in 'The New York Times' described 'Circle of Power' as an "attack on monolithic belief systems," and referred to it as "a worthwhile movie." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars, writing that "...it's an entertaining film with serious intentions." Ebert compared it to events reported in Boston newspapers about a man who died during a seminar, commenting: "Art anticipates life." Ebert questioned the conceit of the film, asking the question: "Could a major corporation get away with this brainwashing?" The authors of the book upon which the film was based concluded their preface by stating: "And please remember as you read -- it's true."
See also
* 'Semi-Tough' (1977)
References
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