Customer Reviews

The Experiment [VHS]

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Recently we have seen many brilliant German films -- such as "Run Lola Run" -- and now, another superb film comes from that country, with the same Moritz Bleibtreu (who was Manni, Lola's love). But this time, the thrilling film "Das Experiment" is excellent for totally different reasons.

A taxi driver Tarek (Bleibtreu) sees an ad on a newspaper that looks very interesting, which read: "Participants Needed. 2 Weeks in a Mock Prison. Reward 4,000 German marks." He decides to apply, is accepted, and goes to a university where this experiment is to be done.

The "experiment" is conducted as follows: 20 participants are divided into to groups, 8 "guards" and 12 "prisoners." The former group were given uniform, handcuffs and other equipments while the latter are required to live in a small cell, wearing only a long white jacket. Though no violence is allowed on both sides, the "guards" set up 6 rules for the "prisoners" to obey. In case of emergency, the professors provide monitoring cameras that relay the images to the controlling room where the supervisors are supposed to watch over every detail of the behaivors of the participants. In this way, the first day starts.

But, as the days pass, the at first peaceful relations between the two groups start to get intensified. Some slight scuffle develops into a bigger and more serious fight and even the uprising of Tarek (now called No. 77), and those "guards" and "prisoners," ordinary people up until then, seriously start to struggle for the power, using unnecessary method of torturing and humiliating prisoners. The "experiment," revealing the brutal human nature under ever-increasing pressure, goes more than the intellectual professors expected, and everything results in inevitable catastrophy.

The premise of this psychological thriller is so simple (and some may remember Samuel Fuller's "Shock Corridor") that you may be incredulous reading my summery, but I can tell you that this film is really harrowing and traumatic, and at the same time very gripping as a thriller. If my review lead you to think that this film is all about violence, you are mistaken. "Das Experiment" is, in my opinion, a first-rate psychological drama, or psychological thriller that will rivet your heart slowly but steadily, like any best Hitchcock films. But you must be also warned. Some scenes realize those humiliations of characters including Tarek in a so disturbing way -- for instance, his hair is all shaven by the secret attack by the guards -- that you stop even breathing with eyes nailed on the nightmare visions the first-time director (as feature) Oliver Hirschbiegel shows.

"Das Experiment" is an example of superb storytelling and observations on humans (and surprisingly, it contains some romance in it). Though some parts of the film seem to go too far (the university will not, I think, do this sloppy job), "Das Experiment," absorbing thriller and thought-provoking study on humanity, should not be missed.

Finally some confusing things should be made clear. The film is based on the book "Black Box" by Mario Giordano, of which story is based on the psychological experiment conducted by Stanford University. Some audience might think that this film is directly based on this "Stanford Prison Experiment." The experiment itself is really a historical truth, but the film, set in today's German, clearly doesn't draw what actually happened at this university. But this fact doesn't reduce the value of the film at all.

The film is based on an actual psychological based prison experiment that took place in Stanford laboratories back in 1971. The aim of the experiment, in my view, is to test the limits of a man's self-control and aggression. And, indeed, the resultscome out to be quite interesting, as the participants become the experimenters at some point of the movie.

Moritz Bleibtreu, plays 'Fahd', a taxi-driver, who is an underground journalist, with the mission of catching the excitement during the experiment. We also know Moritz from 'Run Lola Run', which is yet another good german movie. Moritz, seeing the ad on the newspaper, which tells that a big amount of money is to be given to participants in a pyschology experiment, decides that this is 'the' chance. 19 other people, rather ordinary citizens, but with different individual problems, decide to take a part, too. They all seem to take the experiment and the directions easy; however, as days go by, each goes through different problems, which is the exact case the experimenters have intended to create. We see the professor's increasing delight, as the interactions between the prisoners and guardians get more intense and aggressive. As we proceed to day three, money gets vanished from the minds of many. Instead, it is survival, that is at stake this time. In fact, it will be the professor's surprise to see what has happened, when he comes back from his business trip...

Oliver Hirschbiegel has directed the movie excellently, in a perfect sequence of events, that raises tension, excitement, and curiosity in the audience. The cast has been chosen with particular care, the roles are greatly performed by many of the actors and actresses. I think that 'Das Experiment' is one of the top-notch German movies ever made so far. Seeing this movie is not only highly recommended, but even essential.

I will always remember this movie for its unflinching gaze at what can happen when good research subjects go bad. Watching this, one quickly forgets that these are actors playing at the "let's pretend we're in prison" game, and the shattering realism of it all is enough to make you squirm, if not scream. Apparently, in Germany, where the movie was watched widely, some viewers ended up throwing up or fainting in horror.
This isn't, of course, your average B-movie horror we're talking about either. The horror is in what people can do to one another, if given enough stimulus and just enough power. Stanford University experiment on which the movie is supposedly based actually was terminated before it escalated as much as the situation in the movie does. So it's all too easy to imagine how the events would have unfolded if somebody wise didn't just say NO. Plenty of characters in Das Experiment probably would have wished it was so.
The movie is very lucid, realistic, and keeps you at the edge of the seat at all times. Bleibtrau who also played Lola's boyfriend in Run Lola Run is an astonishing actor, projecting an image of an average man in an abnormal situation, but also someone who is extraordinary enough to be able to deal with it and survive it. The story of experiment is interwoven with the patches of love affair that he initiates shortly beforehand with a woman who crashes into his car. The movie is contemplative and quiet when it needs to be - frantic when it gains momentum. Great techno music serves as an accompaniment (although I didn't recognize the bands they used).
Another great German flick... I hope they keep'em coming!

This was the first movie, in a long time, where I was jumping up and down on the couch, I found myself screaming at the characters and was genuinely enthralled in the drama and action. This was not a very predictable movie; it was a bit twisted. Without giving away too much, the movie is set on a sociologists experiment. Everyday Joes are placed into a would be prison setting. It is interesting to see how some become intoxicated with the power they now have. The prisoners are forced to also pitted against their own fears. I would watch this over and over again. One of my my favorite films!!!

If you think that all the theorems about the final aspects of the violence had been expossed before, watch this movie.
In the best tradition of the greatest films that explored this same object, let`s name the obligated references Shock corridor (Fuller),The chase (Artur Penn) , Straw dogs (Sam Peckinpah), Even dwarfs started small (Werner Herzog )The clockwise orange (Kubrick) , Cuckoo`s nest(Foreman) , The brutalization of Franz Blum (Reinhard Hauff) , Do the right thing (Spike Lee), Trainspotting (Danny Boyle), and The believer (Henry Bean),the insight landscape made by this work is really absorbing . The camera work is exceptional. The performances and thge script are superb. With special mention to both of the meaning roles. The concept of authority, and the fact of owning altough fifteen days , and how this circunstance slowly permeates the shadow places of the soul, showing how the human being can become in a true animal, just for that little amonut of power who seems to design a God`s messenger, or any religion.
In many aspects the film is a true collage of many relevant facts that the use of the violence and the resistence to it, can affect the psiquis , the behavior and the ethics of any human being in similar conditions, the horror (do you remember the last Brando`s speech in Apocalyse now?), the supreme efforts to surviving above all the troubles, the great support of the memory in circunstances beyond the edge conditions.
After watching the film you must remember Hobbes , and Orwell`s nightmares (Animal`s farm), because the message in this sense goes beyond the anechdotical story. Don`t think it just a simple horror film .
Gaston Bothoul, in his fundamental work "The war phenomen" (from the early seventies), tells us among other interesting items the long interval of peace in the world has been only two hundred years, so when you listen again about someone who dares call Aquiles like the cities`destructor, you should set this observation under a several analysis.
I don`t think you stay indifferent after watching it. It`s a devastating movie. And not for all tastes. But if you really face the hidden facets of the human being, his transformation under special circunstances, don`t miss it. And either think about the film like a peace`s aphology.
And above all what it shows the film at its end it`s the powerful message that nobody`s innocent, in the wider sense of the word.

This film is great! Plain and simple. For all the reason that have been mentioned before but primarily for its realism in depicting actual events. You really get a sense of how it must have felt to be in this bizarre psychological experiment.
As for the criticisms of the subplot and seemingly meaningless flashbacks to the girl etc etc - i think this accurately depicts the kind of 'daydreaming' you would do when youre locked up 24/7. My only criticism is the silly American release cover of the dvd! Why is mr Fahd wearing a shirt saying 82 when his number is 77? And the wires on his head business happened before the experiment began - This cover insults the depth of the movie and gives it a shiny, bright hollywood-esque cover that bears little relation to the feel of the film at all. Download the original release cover from somewhere else and stick it on your dvd - is all i'm saying... ahait!

I have never seen any movie in my entire life that layered emotional strain and suspense as effectively and believably as this movie. One thing naturally lead to another in this suspense-thriller about how power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The movie is penetrating, thought provoking, and unsettling. It's one you can't walk away from and just forget about. Tremendously acted and directed, this German film rivals such American blockbusters as "The Green Mile" or "The Shawshank Redemption." See it. Be entertained, if you can take it.

One of the most violent films ever produced, German THE EXPERIMENT deals with the effect of an experiment gone wrong. An undercover reporter (Moritz Bleibtreu) goes for the shock value when he passes himself as a prisoner to a mock prison detention program where all of its participants are guinea pigs. To the joy of Big Brother doctors, all hell breaks loose in no time. Loosely based on a true-life case scenario depicted in the book Black Box by Mario Giordano (who also co-wrote the screenplay), THE EXPERIMENT will please those looking for big thrills. Director Oliver Hirschbiegel delivers an outstanding movie in which psychological humiliation and physical violence take center stage. All of the actors involved do a magnificent job, especially Justus von Dohnanyi as the shy introverted guard who soon becomes the leader of the pack. His love-to-hate-him performance is as riveting and as disturbing as the film itself. THE EXPERIMENT is a hard film to swallow but one that dares not to be missed.-----Martin Boucher

In 1971 the psychologist Phil Zimbardo commenced a prison study that was about to change the rules for human behavioral science. The study consisted of volunteers that were arranged as either prisoners or guards, as the study took place in the basement of Stanford's Psychology Department. No formal training was given to the guards, as they were told to exercise their judgment in how to enforce the law. Through five days of imprisonment the "prisoners" endured humiliation and degradation and they were forced to abort the study due to having generated a powerfully dangerous situation. The Experiment is based of this study by Zimbardo; however, in this fictionalized version the audience gets to see how the study continues after five days.

Tarek Fahd (Moritz Bleibtreu) drives a taxi for a living and while waiting for a customer he stumbles across an ad for a research prison study. Fascinated by the ad he applies for a part in the study, as the audience finds out that he also is a highly educated man who used to work as a journalist. Through Tarek's old connections he gets a freelance job to provide inside information for a new paper while secretively filming the events in the simulated prison. The study begins harmlessly, as the assigned guards are awkward in their role as prison guards while the prisoner's initially are entertained by the simulated situation. Nonetheless, after a mere 24-hours the guards begin to exercise their powers and as the hours pass they become more comfortable in their role as guards and begin to enforce the law with callous authority.

During the time in the simulated prison Tarek, or prisoner #77, which is his new name, and the other inmates slowly begin to confuse the border between reality and make-believe. In order for #77 to keep his sanity he often thinks and dreams of Dora (Maren Eggert), a young woman he met through a car accident just before being imprisoned in the illusion of a jail. The thought of Dora seems to provide #77 a sense of connection with reality, and hope, much like his friend and inmate #82 (Oliver Stokowski) who dreams of a yellow Ferrari. Yet, the hope and dream of being on the outside for something better quickly gets murkier, as the humiliation increases and the derogatory treatment of the inmates intensifies. This continues while the scientists discuss the possibility of aborting the experiment, as it is deemed dangerous, but the experiment continues--something many will regret in the aftermath of the experiment.

Experiment will induce strong uncomfortable feelings in the audience. Some will feel a level of disgust to the behavior and this could manifest itself in a feeling as if the intestines were tying themselves in a knot. There are moments when the audience will want to turn their heads away, yet they cannot as what takes place in front of them is so distastefully hypnotizing as curiosity of what will happen next draws the audience to continue to watch. This is cleverly created by Oliver Hirschbiegel who generates a similar curiosity that the scientists must be experiencing. This notion also triggers a certain level of guilt within the audience for participating in the viewing of the film, as it makes the audience a silent participate in a manner similar to one of the prison guards.

The cast performs exceptionally, as the audience will begin to feel revulsion and maybe even hatred toward some of the guards. However, can one blame the guards in the film, as the experiment encourages this absolute repulsive behavior when the guards begin to live their roles as guards? Ultimately, the audience will feel disgust for what took place, yet the film leaves the audience in a contemplative mind-set of similar actions taking place where those who protect the law are not overseen. For example, in prisons around the world, and the recent prison scandal in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and elsewhere where similar incidents might not have been reported. Another question that the film raises is whether convicts that experiences similar treatment will be rehabilitated to reenter the society after their release.

Director Oliver Hirschbiegel who recently made Downfall (2004) about Hitler's last day in the Berlin bunker brings this truly repulsive, yet important film to the audience. The camera work, lighting, mise-en-scene, and script provide additional strength to the story, as the cast's performance ties it together in front of the camera with several strong performances. Together these cinematic elements help create an experience that should be contemplated, as they provide an abhorrent event at a safe distance where the audience can learn the valuable lesson that the film provides. Long after the screen has turned black and time has past since the viewing of Experiment, the audience will remember this film, which makes this film even more powerful.

I saw this movie initially through a free screening. I must say that I had not heard of it ahead of time, nor knew much going in (besides the fact that it would be in German and that it looked pretty cool on its website). I did not really know too much of what to expect, and I was not thrilled that I would have to read subtitles. I was blown away! This movie is such a rollercoaster. It is the epidemy of a psychological thriller. Also, it is just such an interesting and disturbing view on human behavior. I don't know if I would have even seen this movie if it hadn't been for the free screening, but I have already paid and seen it again with another friend. All that I can say is that it is a really good movie that will stay with you afterwards. (see this movie!!!)