Das Experiment

Inspired by the 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment in America, this is a splendidly violent and claustrophobic movie.

A group of 20 men are split into 2 groups, prisoners and wardens and told to act out the roles for 2 weeks. After only 6 days the results of the experiment were so shocking that it was stopped, this film portrays what "might" have happened if it had been allowed to continue.

Although this film takes the Experiment beyond it's real conclusion it still maintains many of the things that actually happened. (there are loads of websites dedicated to this experiment) It is truly terrifying and is one of the best films I have seen this year. Maurice Bleibtrieb (I think that's his name) from Run Lola Run is particularly outstanding as the rebellious prisoner.

I feel perhaps that there should have been a disclaimer at the start of this movie stating that it was a fictional account of what might have happened, as I knew nothing of this case at the time I watched the film and honestly believed that it had happened as portrayed.

Still it gets a very worthy 9 out of 10, and I recommend that you see it.

I'm really looking forward to seeing this movie after seeing a preview this weekend. Unfortunately it hasn't been widely released here in the US yet.

I've always been interested in punishments and corrections, I studied Law & Society in college. Surprisingly I'm not familiar with this true experiment. I think I'm going to hold off on looking into it until after I see the movie.

I'm glad to see you liked it Meejoir...I have high hopes for this movie. If you have found any good sites about this site, can you send them my way.

Thanks!

The following website seems to be the definitive place for info about the Stanford Prison Experiment.
I found it quite fascinating. Hope you enjoy the movie.
www.prisonexp.org

Thanks for the website. I hope I like it too. I'll let you know!

Das Experiment (2001) - ***1/2 (Out of 4)
When I saw the preview for this German movie a few weeks ago, I knew it was a film I HAD to see! My major in college was Law & Society and one of my favorite classes was a sociology class, Punishments and Corrections. It's always been an area that I've been interested in. This movie is based on a failed Standford experiment in 1971. The premise is 20 people are selected for the study and divided up into guards and prisoners. The guards are told to maintain order without the use of violence. The results both in the study and this movie are very telling as to what a delicate thing the human psyche really is. As for the movie, it has some real strenghths and a couple weaknesses. The strengths of the movie include the extremely interesting story idea, some very fine acting and directing, and the willingness to take on the bleak subject. The biggest weakness for me was how unbelievable I found it that the two head's of this delicate experiment would leave the experiment virtually unmonitored. I would expect either the head guy, or his number one assistant to be watching at all times and for certain precautions taken to avoid letting the experiment get this far out of hand. The other slight unbelievabilty for me was that both the guards and the prisoners could be SO affected by the experiment SO quickly. Even if it may be true, it's still hard to believe. Which does lead to one of it's strengths, the showing of how delicate the human mind is and how stress can affect it. I know everyone is different, but it would take a lot more than this experiment to change me enough to act like these people did. What I do find believable is that if someone is already on the edge and predisposed to this type of behavior, that it might not take that much to push them over the edge. It reminded me a lot of William Golding's, The Lord of the Flies. I remember reading the book for the first time as a kid and being equally surprised how quickly people could become uncivilized and deadly. That's different though, as I think children are much more impressionable and likely to go with the follow the popular crowd. But then again, maybe not. Maybe that's what this story tells us...that even as established adults, there's a fine line. I find it somewhat troublesome to think that normalcy be so easily forgotten, but it is very intriguing to me. I am really glad this movie was made and that I saw it. I'm interested to see others impressions. How realistic people think it could be?! I don't think many would want to admit it, but I don't think it's that far from reality.
Rank: #5 in 2001