Das Experiment
Tags: psychological, murder, thought-provoking, violence, flashback, romantic, sadist

Plot synopsis:
While reading a newspaper advertisement, taxi driver Tarek Fahd discovers an invitation to participate in an experiment, in which 4000 German marks are offered to the participants of the experiment, in which a prison situation is simulated. The experiment is led by Professor Klaus Thon and his assistant, Dr. Jutta Grimm. He decides to join in.
Tarek participates as a journalist while wearing a pair of glasses with a built-in mini-camera. Tarek has a car accident shortly before the experiment, after which he meets a woman called Dora. She spends the night with him and Tarek keeps thinking of her, shown in flashbacks. The 20 volunteers are pronounced guards and prisoners, 12 prisoners and 8 guards, and are being observed by a team of scientists.
In the experiment, the prisoners lose their civil rights and have to obey arbitrary rules, such as completely eating their meals. The guards are given nightsticks, but are told not to use violence in any case. Each prisoner’s name is taken away and replaced by a number. Tarek (prisoner nr. 77) initially refuses to acknowledge the guards' superiority by drinking the milk of one of his co-prisoners because of that prisoner's lactose intolerance, or by throwing his blanket out of his cell to provoke the guards. He befriends his cellmates, Steinhoff and Schütte. Psychological changes develop and the situation deteriorates. The circumstances seem to be escalating after a few days. It becomes clear that limits are not only being reached but being surpassed when the guards kidnap Tarek from his cell late in the night, order him to strip fully naked, shave his head bald and urinate on him.
The guards become excessively aware of their power and use the prisoners' fear to make them obedient. On both sides, one person is considered dominant. On the prisoners' side, this is Tarek, and on the guards’ side, it is the quiet guard Berus, a sadist, whose motto during the experiment is: "Humiliation is the only way we can solve these troubles." From that moment on, the guards start to use more and more violence against the prisoners. The scientists engage in a discussion whether or not to abort the experiment. Dr. Grimm suggests to put an end to the alarming situation, but Professor Thon refuses to stop the experiment until the violence has reached a maximum.
Dora meanwhile returns to Tarek's apartment and discovers his participation contract for the experiment. She surprises him by showing up for a visit day. Tarek, who was forced to clean the toilet with his own clothes, pleads to the friendly guard Walther Bosch to secretly bring her a message. Berus intercepts Bosch, however, and tells Dora that everything is all right and refuses to let Tarek to see Dora.
The situation becomes critical and more violence is involved. The prisoners are being abused and their self-esteem is drastically decreased by the guard's power. Most of the violence is directed against Tarek and they lock him up in solitary confinement inside a "black box" resembling a safe. Schütte, protesting this, is beaten severely, bound and gagged with duct tape and forced to sit on a chair. Later he suffocates to death due to his bloody nose drying up in addition to the duct tape on his mouth.
Bosch is beaten by the other guards for his "betrayal" and is put into confinement. Lars, a member of Thon's team, notices this and attempts to contact Professor Thon, who is attending a conference. The guards, who are aware that the professor cannot be reached by phone, are convinced by Berus that the entire situation is a test put up by Thon's team, in order to make the guards handle an exceptional situation. They take over control of the facility and capture Lars, Dr. Grimm and the other scientists, who are put into confinement as well, and gradually start their own prison in which they engage in brutally sadistic games with the total control.
Dora comes to the facility a second time to speak to Tarek and is lured into a room by Berus, where he locks her up. The guard Eckert attempts to rape Dr. Grimm. He is stopped by Tarek, who escaped from solitary confinement through the use of a screwdriver he found inside the "black box." Tarek knocks down Eckert and frees Lars, Bosch, Steinhoff, Dr. Grimm and the other prisoners. They manage to escape by removing the wall paneling of one of the cells with the screwdriver. Meanwhile, Professor Thon hears Lars' desperate message in his voicemail and leaves for the facility.
Meanwhile, Steinhoff and Tarek stay behind in order to prevent Berus from coming after them. Professor Thon reaches the facility and demands an explanation from Eckert, who accidentally injures him with a pistol. The fleeing prisoners are ambushed by the guards and trapped. Bosch, who could not keep up with the others, loses his sanity and kills Eckert with a fire extinguisher. Dora then escapes from the room she was locked up in, and steals Eckert's gun. She injures one of the guards while he is engaged in fighting Tarek and Steinhoff, leaving only Berus to fight them. Tarek incapacitates Berus, who is nearly choked to death by Steinhoff until Tarek convinces him not to kill Berus.
The film ends with a news break, confirming two deaths (Schütte and Eckert) and three severely injured (Thon, Berus, and Bosch). Both Berus and Thon will be put on trial, Berus for multiple homicides and torture with rape, and Thon for allowing an illegal and unethical experiment.

Review: Based on a real psychological experiment at Stanford University in 1971, using a group of male students, the mood of this film captures the sense of disorientation and loss of reality that was experienced by the original volunteers.
The film's conclusion is carefully constructed and appears to bear an implicit reference to the real prison riot of San Quentin (which occurred the day after the Stanford experiment was prematurely halted), in which guards and informant prisoners were tortured and murdered during the prisoners' escape attempt.
But I think people may be shocked when they read about the real experiment, as they will see that the basic pattern of what happens in the movie happened in reality.
As they realize that they have no limit on their powers, the actions of the guards become increasingly brutal and uncaring.Based on the infamous experiments carried out at Stanford in the 1970's, this film had it all going for it in terms of being an effective thriller while also looking at the ways that human nature will gravitate towards the cruel once they are placed in positions of power.
But it still works and, to be honest, it is well worth seeking out for the 'human nature' aspect alone  it had a special resonance in Germany but it is hard not to be put in a thoughtful mood given recent events in Iraqi military prisons.The cast are roundly good and all slip one way or the other in a convincing manner.
I struggled to pick up the names of all the others because they were mostly unknown to me but the head guard was very good while the rest of the cast did more than just deliver their pigeon-holed characters, where really they could have been nothing more than 'prisoner who goes crazy', 'timid guard', 'angry guard', 'silent prisoner' etc  they weren't, they were all pretty real people.Overall this is not the best thing to come to if you are after a sort of documentary drama about the original experiment but it is still a very good film.
Without fancy tricks and clichés, this movie tells us why riots occurs, why hatred spreads, and how to solve it.In the beginning of this movie, the main character (prisoner no.77), an ex-journalist who hopes to take his job back, participates in a experiment in a mock prison for 2 weeks in order to record down this story, and publish it on the newspaper.
We follow the events mainly through the eyes of reporter/taxidriver Tarek, a 'prisoner', who thinks there's a good story to tell.But things go all wrong when the guards really feel like they're God and things only get worse from that moment on.
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.
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.
There is a fair amount of nudity too.Thus viewer discretion is advised here.What catches you is the paramount attention to detail,some amazing camera work and a brilliant script.It doesn't matter that you dunno German to watch this movie because1 The CD has English subtitles 2 The actors have done a stupendous job.Language never was a barrier anyway.The economy of words and intelligent storytelling form the icing on the cake..
What first starts as a pleasant game soon erupts in chaos as the latter group begins to take its role very seriously...Loosely based on actual events that occurred in 1971, this movie starts as a very interesting study of human behavior.
While Tarek, intensely played by Moritz Bleibtreu (Run, Lola Run), tries to provoke his pseudo-captors to use violence in order to boost the report he intends to publish, some of the guards soon find real pleasure in inducting psychological and, inevitably, physical pain.
Stumbling upon "Das Experiment", I would soon find I would not be disappointed.The plot here is well-known, the film being adapted from a real life scenario where a team of psychiatrists took to simulating a prison-like environment with a group of volunteers, only to watch them turn into rabid wolves."Das Experiment" possesses a number of qualities: the musical score does much to keep the pace going energetically forward.
To single actors out, such as Justus von Dohnanyi (who plays Berus) or Oliver Stokowski (Schütte) is, however, futile, since they all act well.To sum things up: Alexander Bubenheim's pace-setting music coupled with the brisk and practical set and fine acting create in "Das Experiment" a masterpiece of contemporary German cinema.
But do they really know what they're in for?In Oliver Hirschbiegel's The Experiment (Das Experiment in German), Professor Thon and his associate Dr. Grimm are conducting an experiment where they need a group of people to play prison guards and prisoners.
This movie shows how when an ordinary group of men are placed in a situation where they turn on each other in the worst way.The Experiment is a fantastic film.
The Experiment is essentially a film about power and power relations; how people in positions of power abuse what they have; and the potential of power to corrupt.Inspired by an infamous psychological experiment conducted in the early 1970's along the same lines, 20 men are divided into 8 guards and 12 prisoners and have to "play prisons" for a 2 week period upon the completion of which they will receive $4000 marks.The film comments on how people fall into roles of dominance and submission, which they soon do.
For me this is not really a sign of quality ;)But I got a film with a dense atmosphere you nearly could feel, and people around me who were relieved that the movie had finished because they were scared of what they had seen, not because of horror pictures but because of the picture of people who changed from perfect normal people like you and me to brutalists who tortured a man to death.I think this is a way to understand history, OUR (german) history as it happened: Give power and rules to a weak man, and he will take care that these rules are observed, despite of the instruments he has to use.
Das Experiment is a German film loosely based on the Stanford University Prison Study in the 1970s where a group of students were split into guards and prisoners which lead to minor authoritarian regime with torture being used.The film focuses on a Tarek Fahd (Moritz Bleibtreu), a taxi driver, who see an advert for the experiment in the local newspaper.
This film based on true story, adapted from a book concerns about a diverse group of 20 male participants what are locked for a psychological experiment .They are hired for a human experiment, as prisoners and as wardens.
At the beginning the events happen easily and everybody can leave at any time but the experiment turns into fascist situations when the jailers employ drastic tortures and pains including crude punishment, physical abuse, panic attack and brutal violence.The movie contains a thoughtful plot with suspense, psychological intrigue and lots of violence .
I remember that a day,I went to rent a movie.There wasn't an option which really interested me,until I saw the box of The experiment.The box did not contain a plot summary,so intrigued of what was the movie about,I rented it.When I finally saw it,I really took a great surprise.The plot is not much original but the execution it has is really original.Oliver Hirshbiegel showed,on this movie and on Downfall,he is one of the most talented directors and I have huge interest in watching his next films.The experiment is a very fun movie with a very original execution.I totally recommend it.Rating:9.
However, I do hate when characters are 1-dimensional and pretty much just play the role of bad-guy, anti-hero, and etc.Just to give you a glimpse of what to expect out of the decisions you can look forward to in the film: If you were a lead professor in an experiment consisting of 20 human subjects and were making giant breakthroughs, would you take a day or two from your schedule to completely IGNORE your experiment/project?
The best group psychological behavior movie since long, or how would act/do most human under the Authority agreement, considering the fact that most people have sadistic and/or submissive potentials (under certain circumstances), as long as there is a strong leader in any group.The Stanford Experiment is the basis of this movie, and even though the conclusions of the S.E. were contested, with comprehensive reasons from a scientific point of view, for my humble understanding of human nature, I unfortunately have to agree the conclusions are definitively true.Many comments do take in consideration Abu Graib, or the last WW2, but it's only because we know nothing about what is still going on every day of the year, in too many countries.Newspapers make a big thing every once a few years, but it's only because the Freedom of Knowledge is quiet under control on this Earth, as long there are only very few courageous journalist/politicians/legal actors/banking or industry leaders/and/or individuals that really act/shout against Unjustice, because most of them live and make money on it !
The escalate is real, the acting and script and filming is all together compact, for real !At the end, I just cried, not for the movie, I know it's one !But because this could help many to realise and behave differently...The "Authority" is always a bad thing, unless it's not due to self respect to the authority's kindness and knowledge which should only be taken as a positive example.For me, may be only the Dalai Lama is a worldwide known person (to me) who really is a true example, and as for he's not invited in a main ecclesiastic conference, I just laugh : one of the Only !To kill someone, is a bad thing, an horrible thing, but if you do it under the Authority consent because it tells you have the obligation and right to do it otherwise you'll be the next one on the list to be killed and not ONLY because YOU are sincerely convinced you must do it for your deepest belief AND for your personal soul justice (if it does possibly exist), then you may enter in doing things how we see in this movie.Of course, it's not easy : self respect is a difficult thing to deal with, for everyone...It reminds me another brilliant must see movie : Closet Land (1991), which deals too with the topic, beautifully shots, but only with an inmate and a woman prisoner.I wonder if any movie maker could translate and adapt the topic...
So it took me close on 7 years to watch it, so it took me to do a thread about my personal prison based film project on IMDb to get some prompts for this film, I'm just like Novacaine, if you give me time, I get there.Based on the real life Stanford prison experiment in 1971, Das Experiment is a fabulous construction of seams coming apart in the human psyche, the film's triumph is that we are never left in any doubt that things are going to go pear shaped from the off, but the fact that it manages to bash you over the head with its bluntness to reinforce the point, is, magnificent story telling.
Moritz Bleibtreu & Justus von Dohnanyi play Tarek & Berus respectively, with both men giving superlative performances as the two lynch pins to the film's unravelling terror.This is not merely an experiment, but a test where the results are dangerously grounded in facts, it's bleak, it's at times harsh, but it actually is essential cinema for those looking for a kicker where the boot on the foot is all too real and was once wore by the man next door to you.
Based on a real-life experiment conducted at Stanford University in the 1970s, the film studies the ease with which violent situations erupt in a realistic simulated prison setting, even when both the "inmates" and "guards" are just regular guys with no criminal background.
This movie is about an experiment which locks 20 people in a prison cell for a role-playing game, 12 of them being prisoners and 8 guard.
Of course, the film could be better developed if the story was placed in another country where racial and sexual tensions are more violent in prisons, places where the excess of human degradation really puts a man in the worst possible conditions that he can't do the right thing and think about the others around him but always trying to do the best for himself.
Again quoting about the man being a product of its environment and the way goals to achieve might be a problem in the process, and people locked in a small place go through that it makes me wonder why some of us keep insisting in watching reality shows (at one time so called "experiments" as well) that doesn't add anything to their lives when a film like this can do so much more?
The movie is based off a novel which is loosely inspired by a real life experiment.The rough premise of the film is The Stanford University Prison Experiment which took place in the United States in 1971.
Das Experiment is loosely based on the Stanford Prison Experiment and its not a film for everyone.The raw nature and the disturbing outcome of the experience will shock many but it is absolutely necessary to make the point the director wanted...
The point of the film is less "what happens when regular people are given absolute control," but more "humanity in conflict is evil, and the human condition is conflict." Both the prisoners and the guards go insane as they cannot step away from the dominance contest.
The experiment  which is still widely quoted and supported by the psychology profession today  was shut down early (only 6 of the 14 days were completed) due to the violent nature exuded by the guards and harm inflicted upon the prisoners.In all, the movie is an above average character study.
The Experiment is a German film inspired by the true story of the Stanford Prison Experiment conducted in 1971.
The Experiment is a German film inspired by the true story of the Stanford Prison Experiment conducted in 1971.
The movie is centrally focused on two characters  the head guard Berus played by Justus von Dohnanyi and Tarek Fahd (known throughout the film as prisoner 77) played by Moritz Bleibtreu.
The movie is centrally focused on two characters  the head guard Berus played by Justus von Dohnanyi and Tarek Fahd (known throughout the film as prisoner 77) played by Moritz Bleibtreu.
The experiment  which is still widely quoted and supported by the psychology profession today  was shut down early (only 6 of the 14 days were completed) due to the violent nature exuded by the guards and their inmates.In all, the movie is an above average character study.
So ok, there were points where the film failed to deliver like what is the purpose of the experiment and the subplot of Prisoner 77 and his love interest ?
I'm still shaking,having trouble on breathing well and disturbed,I just came back from watching "The Experiment",this movie was so powerful that on it´s climax there so many mixtures of emotions that i found myself dropping a few tears without even knowing why,The tension and the stress of it all made me vulnerable to its story and got to some inner fears or something,It just got me upset and when it was over i just sighed in relief, It´s been a while since i´ve had an experience like this in a movie theater,up to a point where in a scene near the ending I was the only one who kind of screamed "Ohhhhhh"...when the scene continued i sensed i was the only one watching it...then kind of listened to the guy on the side of me saying "Damn...what is this movie" and i felt o.k.The story is easy,there´s an experiment going on and they choose 20 men to make it happen,it´s a mock prison,8 of those guys are guards and 12 are prisoners, They´ll all get well paidd for lasting 20 days and they can go away from the experiment anytime they feel like it.The main character is a prisoner and he doesn´t like rules very much so that´s when the punishment begins.Excellent camera work,great casting because they really deliver and great timing makes this movie a masterpiece you have to see.
The film starts off slowly enough, with the main character, a journalist, applying to a newspaper ad for an experiment with 20 men, simulating a prison.
Gradually as the film progresses we start to see the guards getting power hungry, and forgetting that the experiment is not real.
This film is based upon a true story -  an experiment at the  Stanford University in the 1970´s: a simulation of a real situation in jail.