Based on a novel, which itself is loosely based upon the true life Stanford Prison Experiment - which also ended shockingly prematurely - this movie shows how horribly wrong a simple experiment can go once the subjects involved have crossed over the edge from conditioned behavior to violent psychosis. Das Experiment is a chilling look into the human psyche and the frightening capacity normal human beings have of becoming shockingly cruel and inhuman through subjection to extreme environments and extreme situations.

      The private screening I attended turned out to be co-sponsored by NYU, which was around the corner, hence a lot, and I mean A LOT of NYU students. Despite invitations, seating was on a first come first serve basis. Even though I arrived an hour early, there was already an extensive line around the corner of the theater. As we entered, we were guided to a table where 2 staff members were dressed as lab technicians and would quickly ask nonsensical questions of each of us. Depending on how you answered, you were labelled as a prisoner or a prison guard. I was a prison guard so I got to follow the rest of the prison guards to the upper level of the theater. I found out later that the “prisoners” were simply seated on the opposite side of the theater but with equally good seats. It was just a fun gimmick to get everyone in the mood. The theater was packed and the staff members working there claim they ended up turning away more than 200 people. Everyone was talking about this movie.

      Anyways, enough about that, on to the movie. Tarek Fahd, the main character, played very well by Moritz Bleibtreu, is an ex-journalist who is trying to make ends meet as a taxi driver. One day he sees an ad for a university psychology experiment that will pay DM4,000 for 14 days of work. He decides to investigate and discovers that the experiment involves dividing 2 groups of men randomly into prisoners and prison guards, placing them in a simulated prison inside the university where their reactions will be studied by the doctors conducting the experiment. Tarek sees another angle in this and convinces his old boss to pay him to secretly cover the story from the inside. Tarek, along with a group of other volunteers, gets to participate in the experiment and is randomly chosen as a prisoner. The participants must complete the 14 days in their assigned roles or they will not get paid.

      The simulated prison is very real with bars and everything. The prisoners are given numbers instead of names and stock prison clothing which is simply a dress with no underwear. The prison guards are given uniforms, nightsticks, handcuffs, and keys. There is only 1 hardcore rule given to the men assigned as prison guards - no violence. Other than that, they are free to make up any rules they want and to keep order in any way they see fit. The doctors monitor everything via 24 hr video cameras and microphones to study the human behavior about to unfold.

      At first, both prisoners and prison guards laugh and joke about their make believe roles and don’t take anything too seriously. However, it doesn’t take long before things start to change and the first night the guards impose some discipline by making prisoners do push ups for disobeying orders. Very soon, things start to gradually spiral out of control.

      Tarek Fahd (Moritz Bleibtreu) quickly becomes the antagonist for the prison guards, either by helping his fellow prisoners or openly aggravating the guards, presumably so he can get some juicy stuff for his story. Berus (excellent acting by Justus Von Dohnanyi) is the prison guard who quickly takes his job as prison guard a little too seriously. It becomes quickly apparent that these 2 are at odds with each other almost from the beginning. Tarek’s cell mate is a quiet, but serious man named Steinhoff (Christian Berkel) who at first seems to be an enemy but turns out to be one of the solid men in the bunch of prisoners.

      The punishments given to the prisoners become increasingly cruel and inhuman and the prison guards soon find ways to avoid the 24 hour cameras and microphones so they can exercise their own brand of “punishment” for the prisoners, particularly Tarek Fahd. The doctors begin to argue amongst themselves as one of them feels that the prison guards have exceeded their roles and the experiment should end. The doctor in charge, however, feels the experiment should go on. Eventually the experiment goes completely out of control even for the doctors and what happens in the last 30 minutes or so of the movie is brutal, dark, and shocking.

      What makes this movie so disturbing is how a group of seemingly well adjusted “normal” human beings have the capacity for so much evil. In one very eerie scene, we see the prison guards’ office through the surveillance camera as they all raise their hands in agreement to the plan to punish the prisoners - in obvious reference to the Hitler salute of the Nazi party. It is equally troubling to see how another group of seemingly “normal” men can literally become prisoners, not just acting out, but really believe they are prisoners and “live” accordingly.

      Part of the message of the movie is how people can react to extreme situations, becoming something we never dreamed possible. It is also a horrifying picture of what can go wrong in even the simplest of experiments as the subjects lose control of their humanity. This is a dark and brutal film that in its blunt and violent way is thought provoking and imaginative. It is a well directed, well shot movie with some great acting as well. While some will balk at its violent and twisted imagery, fans of movies like Fight Club will no doubt thoroughly enjoy it. While I found a few parts of the movie disturbing, overall I thought the film well done and very thought provoking. However, I don’t think I will be volunteering for any university experiments any time soon!

Aaron Hoag, 2002