Das Experiment

Before Downfall, there was Das Experiment, Oliver Hirschbiegel's 2001 study of claustrophobia and the misuse of the power.

Based on a true story, the notorious Standford Prison Experiment in 1971, the film tells the story of 20 men who volunteer to be placed into a makeshift prison for 12 days. Once inside, some are chosen to be guards whilst the others will act the role of prisoners, a process that involves abandoning their names, their clothing and their civil rights for the duration of the experiment.

The job of the guards is simple, maintain peace and order at all times without using physical violence.

At the heart of the film is Tarek, prisoner 77, an undercover journalist who is secretly filming from inside the prison, hoping to sell his exclusive once it's over. Tarek underestimates his own role in the experiment, though. He starts in irreverent mood, thinking it's just a game until he sparks a conflict with one of the guards, Berus. The two adversaries drive each other on relentlessly forcing the experiment to become darker, more grotesque, as each man fights for their own idea of power and identity.

Das Experiment asks what happens when good people are put in an evil place. Does humanity win over evil, or does evil triumph ? Also, it examines the role of memory when faced with extreme stress and deprivation. Whilst the film is based on a true story, it's cinematic influences can be traced back to Samuel Fuller's masterpiece "Shock Corridor" and, to a lesser extent, Chris Marker's "La Jetee". The comparisons to "Shock Corridor" are there for all to see but it's also worth noting that in all three films, the protagonists are obsessed with the memory of a girl, often using that memory as an anchor to cling on to a more idealised past, a potential escape route from the situation they find themselves in. For Tarek, as the situation becomes more extreme, the memories become stronger and stronger as he attempts to block out the present and focus on the past and a possible future with the girl.

Das Experiment is more than simple homage and pop psychology, though, largely due to it's director. In his first film, Hirschbiegel manages to create an entirely dark world, both inside and outside of the prison. Only in the final frames of the film do we see any natural daylight at all which offers stark contrast to everything we've seen before. The sense of claustrophobia, the complete lack of space, carefully manipulates the viewer throughout the film and, at times, it's genuinely unnerving. Consequently, it's difficult to find any real distance between yourself and the film as you become more and more absorbed. Like the characters within the prison there appears to be escape route for the viewer. A sparse script and real sensitivity from the actors, none of them overplaying their role, only adds further to the film's power. Moritz Bleibtreu (Run Lola Run) is particularly strong as Tarek whilst Justus Von Dohnanyi is positively menacing in the role of the sadistic guard Berus.

Hirschbiegel would, of course, develop these themes further in Downfall a few years later and in many senses, Das Experiment can be seen as a companion piece to the latter. As a debut work it's nothing short of astonishing, a director completely in control of the film and the viewer. Cinema not for the faint hearted, where you have to go the dark places first before you can see the light.

I saw this film recently on the Sundance Channel. I could not stop watching. After seeing the prison pictures from Iraq, the film fully explored the reasons for the abuse of prisoners. When I read some of the reviews posted, I noticed how many dismissed the film as contrived and not plausible. I wonder if any of those reviewers would like to modify their dismissal of Das Experiment. Human behavior under stress often declines to the lowest common instinct. It reminded me of an adult Lord of the Flies. Degradation and humiliation seems to exactly follow what happened in Iraq. As a veteran who spent most of time working on Military Mental wards, I witnessed a number of abuses, as force had to be used patients were acting out or lost control, but all those memories seem pale compared to the horrors of the Iraq prison camps. Since life imitates art, this makes the film even more profound.

This is an overwhelming film. I have not been so affected - physically - since I was run over by "Terminator 2" ten years ago.

If you have any claustrophobic tendencies or if you find it hard to endure situations of powerlessness, this film will be a total nightmare for you. But I urge you to see it anyway...

The acting is superb and the directing is moderate and intelligent. As a result, the potentially predictable story becomes very unpredictable. Its surprise effects are not sudden. You get plenty of time to realize what is about to happen (and how little you or anybody else can do about it...).

At one time, despite being almost completely absorbed by the suspense, I was able to look away from the screen and notice that I was sitting in a movie theater, at a safe distance from the experiment. Thank God!

My grade: 10 out of 10!

This was a surprisingly intense film that I'm so glad I watched. The concept was great and this was even before I found out it was based on a true story. But once I heard that it makes me want to look into it a lot more and see what differed from actual life and such. Supposedly the movie was pretty accurate though. It's amazing that good foreign films blow the socks off of most Hollywood garbage any day of the week. They're more realistic and the characters act more like real people would in day to day situations. The love story in this might've been the only thing that I think could've been done better since it became a little weird here and there. Other than that the suspense kept me going and the thought that this could happen to anyone is really scary to ponder. I'm pretty sure I'd like to see this made into an American version only because I'm quite positive they'd butcher it and wouldn't contain anything near the desired effect as has usually been the case in the past. It was kept simple and because of that...it worked! The acting was great all around as it really was a job well done.

Final Import:

Movies: Not a possibility here in the U.S.

DVD Purchase: Worth looking into.

Rental: A wise choice my friend!

"The Experiment" is a kind of movie you won't forget easily. It is an amazing spiral of fear, horror and anguish.

A taxi driver decides to be an human guinea-pig for a strange experiment. Twenty men. Two groups. Guards vs. thieves. The prize is money. Every man will have money.

After two days something gets wrong. The taxi driver, who is a reporter too, wants to face the guards. So he provokes the guards: they can't use violence against the prisoners...

After more days the situation becomes more extreme. The guards want to impose their dominion on the prisoners. And now the situation is out of control...

The script isn't really original, but it's been developed in a satisfaction way. The direction is dynamic. If the Americans do movies like Germans, we'll have more interesting products.