The Experiment
2001 ‘Das Experiment’ Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel
Synopsis
Das Experiment is a shocking psycho thriller about the potential for brutality that humans hide. Even more shocking is the fact that it’s based on an actual occurrence—a 1971 psychological experiment at Stanford University that was aborted prematurely when the experimenters lost control.
Cast
Moritz Bleibtreu Christian Berkel Oliver Stokowski Wotan Wilke Möhring Stephan Szasz Polat Dal Danny Richter Ralf Müller Markus Rudolf Peter Fieseler Thorsten Dersch Sven Grefer Justus von Dohnanyi Nicki von Tempelhoff Timo Dierkes Antoine Monot Jr. Lars Gärtner Jacek Klimontko Markus Klauk Ralph Püttmann
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The Stanford Prison Experiment is one of the most interesting subjects I've read about regarding psychology and social behavior. The concept alone was interesting, but the results of the experiment was what really made me interested about the whole affair. Even a prison chaplain was brought in at one point to measure just how realistic the whole situation was and the results were haunting. 6 days was all it took to transform a group of average college students and a boarded-up corridor into Guantanamo Bay.
Movies like Battle Royale and books like 1984 also tackled most of the same issues that were studied in the Experiment, but those were fictional stories, whereas The Experiment is a pretty accurate report of…
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A film i badly wanted to end, not because i didn't like it, but because i hated the situation and wanted to see it resolved. This whole film made me uncomfortable through its entire runtime and i loved it, even more chilling that it actually happened. The first time I've been glad to see a predictable ending. I tell you a lot of films are tagged as ''thriller'' and more often than not they'll be as thrilling as a walk in the park, but not this one. This fucker is thrilling.
From the start the premise is fascinating, i'm glued to my screen just like those watching their subjects are. What will happen? Will they act out? Will they rebel?… -
Das Experiment is a maddening psychological thriller that explores the corruptible and uncontrollable nature of authority when in the wrong hands. Olivier Hirschbiegel controls the pace with an effectiveness that feels downright exploitive - I found myself lost in my anger and I admire a film that is able to make me feel so strongly. The natural flow to social degradation is a truly shocking thing to see, incredibly convincing too.
20 men volunteer to participate in a social experiment where they will be locked in a high security prison for 14 days - 8 are assigned to be guards while the other 12 are prisoners. Through interviews we learn about each man's reasoning for joining the experiment; most are…
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The film does not do justice to the events which unfolded in the actual Stanford Prison Experiment. It amplifies the violence and in doing so makes the film less human.
The characters of the prisoners are dealt with rather well but the film does not even begin to attempt to explain the characters of the prison guards and what makes them act so brutally and cruelly. Apart from that, every scence outside the prison is, frankly, annoying.
However, this is not a bad film. Far from it, it is gripping. The subject matter is such that it makes it impossible to make a film on it which is not interesting. Which is also why this film is so disappointing, it could have done so much more with the subject but it did not.
Links:
www.prisonexp.org/ -
I remember perfectly that this was one of the first films that really got me thinking when I was a teenager and it came out. I am really not someone who is interested in psychollogy or any such non-sense and probably I saw it only because it looked so sci-fi.
I could not be more wrong, the movie is about a journalist that signs up for an experience at the university where half the applicants play the part of prisional guards and the other half play the prisioners. They all stay inside a controlled prison during 14 days and the objectiv is to study the dynamic of the group. Of course things dont go as planned and we will see…
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DO NOT WATCH THE AMERICAN REMAKE. I REPEAT. DO NOT WATCH THE SHITTY AMERICAN REMAKE. Stir and Repeat.
Adrian Brody has about as much charisma as a toothpick...
The German original prob cost 1/100 of the US remake and is 100 times better for it. It has a better plot, a better cast and is way more frightening.
WATCH IT.
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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Part of Cinebro June Challenge : #6
I am speechless, this film is amazing a million times better than the remake.
It was so intense i was literally shaking,and i felt so immersed into it that i was clenching my teeth in anger.
Initially i was worried about having to read the subtitles as its german spoken but i didn't even notice as the film progressed.
YOU HAVE TO WATCH THIS -
This is an excellent movie about how groups are formed and how psychological weak people alter and take advantage of a situation.
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12 volunteers for a psychological experiment in a two-week simulated prison, based on the famed Stanford Experiment. 6 assigned as guards, 6 as inmates. Human nature takes over and it's not pretty.....
Interesting film. Apparently based on the real life Stanford Experiment in which the experiment was cut short after the 'guards' became violent; the film takes this as a starting point and goes on its own, sometimes fanciful, way. Moritz Bleibtreu is inmate 77 who is involved undercover as part of a story and its mainly about his conflict with one of the guards, a sadistic Berkel. The characters are a bit one note, I like Bleibtreu from Badder-Meinhoff, and he's fine here but no one really gets to…
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The Stanford Prison Experiment is one of the most interesting subjects I've read about regarding psychology and social behavior. The concept alone was interesting, but the results of the experiment was what really made me interested about the whole affair. Even a prison chaplain was brought in at one point to measure just how realistic the whole situation was and the results were haunting. 6 days was all it took to transform a group of average college students and a boarded-up corridor into Guantanamo Bay.
Movies like Battle Royale and books like 1984 also tackled most of the same issues that were studied in the Experiment, but those were fictional stories, whereas The Experiment is a pretty accurate report of…
-
The film does not do justice to the events which unfolded in the actual Stanford Prison Experiment. It amplifies the violence and in doing so makes the film less human.
The characters of the prisoners are dealt with rather well but the film does not even begin to attempt to explain the characters of the prison guards and what makes them act so brutally and cruelly. Apart from that, every scence outside the prison is, frankly, annoying.
However, this is not a bad film. Far from it, it is gripping. The subject matter is such that it makes it impossible to make a film on it which is not interesting. Which is also why this film is so disappointing, it could have done so much more with the subject but it did not.
Links:
www.prisonexp.org/ -
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Goes too far at the end but mostly good, don't know why it took me 16 months to get round to watching it.</span></span>
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A film i badly wanted to end, not because i didn't like it, but because i hated the situation and wanted to see it resolved. This whole film made me uncomfortable through its entire runtime and i loved it, even more chilling that it actually happened. The first time I've been glad to see a predictable ending. I tell you a lot of films are tagged as ''thriller'' and more often than not they'll be as thrilling as a walk in the park, but not this one. This fucker is thrilling.
From the start the premise is fascinating, i'm glued to my screen just like those watching their subjects are. What will happen? Will they act out? Will they rebel?… -
I remember perfectly that this was one of the first films that really got me thinking when I was a teenager and it came out. I am really not someone who is interested in psychollogy or any such non-sense and probably I saw it only because it looked so sci-fi.
I could not be more wrong, the movie is about a journalist that signs up for an experience at the university where half the applicants play the part of prisional guards and the other half play the prisioners. They all stay inside a controlled prison during 14 days and the objectiv is to study the dynamic of the group. Of course things dont go as planned and we will see…