The Experiment

Wow, I loved this movie so much. So you know the storyline. I was interested the whole time. Usually I get bored while watching movies and will play on my laptop or iphone during the movie, but this held my interest completely. Towards the end, I was actually feeling really pumped and was obviously rooting for the "prisoners".

I can't believe all the negative reviews, clearly they have no idea what makes a good movie, because this movie is amazing. I was literally drawn into the emotions of all the key players in the movie. Yea sure, they didn't devolve deep into the characters pasts, but it the movie shows reactions of the now and those reactions and emotions are acted beautifully. I could feel the pain the characters were feeling, I could also see the craziness some of the characters were showing.

The movie sends a clear message of, treat people like animals and they will act like animals.

The acting in this movie is wow, amazing. The script is well written. The camera angles, the lighting everything was great.

Could've been done more with this one. Interesting story, slowly built, tensed, well portrayed characters (not just the main two), excellent acting (Brody and Whitaker especially), but in the end unfortunately fails to materialize all that in to something more. Apart from the plain ending and unnecessary undeveloped female character, everything else was done right and it is a gripping thriller indeed.

Probably the most important is that the movie succeeds in the main idea, catching the human nature and its transformation placed in certain conditions. As expected blinding of power and rebelling makes the violence slowly but surely spreads and the movie becomes more disturbing, answering my question why is it going straight to DVD.

The Experiment is based on that very well known experiment that took place in Stanford University's basement where a mock prison was constructed and twenty-four applicants were divided up and given the vague roles of either a "guard" or a "prisoner." The motivation? A decent pay cut, around $15 a day (the film counterpart ups the pay to $1,000 a day). Guards were armed with intimidating, militaristic outfits, while the prisoners were ill-equipped with a smock and no underwear. Originally set to be a fourteen day test, the experiment ended after day six due to drastic measures taken by the inmates and guards that could've been fatal. Abuse was common, the issue of inferiority plagued the prisoners until they tried to force a rebellion, and borderline torturous acts were committed by the guards.

The film is the American remake of the German picture Das Experiment, as of now, unseen by me, but not totally written off. I'm not entirely sure if a film based on the prison experiment could effectively be made. This is one of those cases where history and facts overshadow fictionalization and dramatization. I believe a documentary would've been far more suited for this subject.

We are met with Adrien Brody, playing Travis, an Atheist softie who agrees to partake in a psychological experiment held by a local organization along with twenty-three other people. Early on, he meets Michael Barris (Whitaker) who seems to be a content and well-managed individual, but when he is given the title of a "guard" and Travis the title of a "prisoner," their true sides come out, and abandonment is quickly brought forth.

Much of what I explained above occurs in the film, but in a seemingly muted form. Nothing is ever very explicit or, for that matter, truly interesting. The cinematography is some to commend, perfectly personifying the prison as the one instigating the violence. The atmosphere is so gritty and real that we can see it takes a drastic effect on the people.

The whole event feels like Lord of the Flies come to life. Both Golding's timeless novel and Philip Zimbardo's 1971 experiment prove that when stripped of all things just and civil, humans will scram for security and the gray idea of "what is right?" before completely forgoing all the former rules, recognizing this is a new place, and furthermore, begin to act on their id, their desire to feed their consuming savagery. This is definitely taken into consideration in the film, and is the highest point this picture has to offer.

But as far as a worthy retelling of the events, it's pretty thin and underwhelming. The film was directed by Paul Scheuring, who directed some episodes of the FOX crime drama Prison Break, and that is exactly how it plays; like a Television crime drama. The performances, mainly by Adrien Brody and Forest Whitaker, and the exceptional cinematography elevate the film to a passable status, but The Experiment lacks essential character development essential to furthering ones feelings towards its prisoners, and, instead of playing like an superbly intense film, it plays like what it is; an American remake.

Starring: Adrien Brody and Forest Whitaker. Directed by: Paul Scheuring.

The Experiment has an intriguing premise. Human behavior, group dynamics; what will happen when you put a group of people (all with very different personalities) in a small, stressful environment for a long period of time. As this is a straight to DVD movie it surprisingly has a good cast and doesn't suffer from small budget diseases.

The Experiment has the potential of being a great movie but never reaches it's full potential. To me it felt like certain events were rushed. This could be by the lack of explanation of the motives and the background of certain characters. Ultimately, The Experiment is watchable but forgettable. 6/10

The Stanford prison experiment was about group dynamics when people were assigned roles of prisoners and guards but the movie only revolves around the two main characters most of the time, with others being almost entirely absent. As group dynamics do not really get into play, they miss many opportunities for personality development, which is what made the actual experiment interesting in the first place.

Due to the complete lack of character development (with one exception) the movie feels rather dull and the behavior of the characters, as well as their backgrounds, suggest that the researchers had knowingly picked individuals who had mental or other problems in the past. Even though the plot is about as linear as it can get, it is still full of holes.

The German version is much better, not because The Experiment is a remake but because it is dumbed down way too much. A typical reality-watching simpleton may find the remake easier to follow, though.

Even with its flaws, I give it 7/10 because the basic premise is interesting and the movie is refreshingly different. The set and the cast were certainly good enough.