Tuesday, January 4, 2022

Headhunter: The Assessment Weekend, Human Resources Carnage

Sun Tzu!  The bloke wrote a book on the strategies of war.  Our military academies teach from it...though our troops don't follow it in war zones.  You meet idiots all the time who can quote Sun Tzu.  They aren't fighting wars.  No...these losers are selling appliances, or teaching leadership classes to mid-level management, or doing multi-level marketing.  When corporations teach Sun Tzu to their employees, then we have a good reason why corporate America has lost the admiration of most Americans.  Today's feature, 2010's "Headhunter: The Assessment Weekend," directed by Sebastian Panneck.

A bunch of hopefuls dream of working for the Takahashi Corporation.  Owned and run by Takahashi (Maverick Quek).  This guy believes in Sun Tzu philosophy and wants his job candidates to look at business like war.  He has tapped into the Millennials well.  Six candidates vie for one position.  Takahashi sends the six for an assessment weekend, supervised by his psychologist, Tom (Clayton Nemrow)...a hunk.  Tom develops an instant crush on beauty, Sarah (Shannon Lower), ticking off Brad (Keith Blasor), wo lusts for Sarah, too.  Also along are the not-as-beautiful-as-Sarah chick Frankie (Mareike Fell), brain Simon (Jesse Inman), and a few other throwaways.  As the group begins their hike in the Polish wilderness, the weird and bloody begins.

Violence and death rear their ugly heads.  Beheadings and group strife become rampant.  Now the group realizes that 'there can be only one.'  Takahashi uses the greed and narcissism of the group members to whittle them down to the one perfect candidate for his corporation.  The carnage will prove to be a perfect metaphor for today's western corporate culture and leadership training.  Throats will be slit, heads will roll, and carnal behavior will rule.  Survival of the fittest?  Perhaps.  

Is John Maxwell's leadership philosophy the same as Takahashi's, only in a more palatable instruction guide?  Has Takahashi's personnel strategy taken over much of western civilization?  Will Tim or Brad end up with the nubile Sarah?  Vicious and heavy with metaphor and messages, "Headhunter: The Assessment Weekend" is a perfect film to inspire a country to demand Jeff Bezos pay his fair share of taxes. 

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