Das Experiment movie review

by Chris   ⋅   September 15, 2003   ⋅   Comment now   ⋅    RSS

WHAT’S IN THE BOX?! You may have heard the story before but I’ll summarize it here to the best of my non-spoiltastic ability. Das Experiment is based on the infamous 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment performed by Philip Zimbardo (If you’ve ever taken any psych classes you’ll recognize this name.) I always thought he looked like some old school horror villain. The real experiment was supposed to last 2 weeks, but was terminated prematurely on the 6th day due to the increasingly sadistic behavior of the prison “guards” and the emotional instability of the “prisoners.”

Of course the film goes much further than the real experiment did, but it still adheres to the actually events fairly well. The later part of the film takes its cues from the story, The Black Box whose title refers to the sound and lightproof box used for solitary confinement in the prison. As Philip Zimbardo wouldn’t endorse this film, the tagline only says it’s based on The Black Box. You may want to check out the link to the original experiment’s web page at: http://www.prisonexp.org .

The film actually does a wonderful job adapting the two sources into a cohesive whole. The film stars the dude who played Manni, Lola’s boyfriend in Run Lola Run, as Tarek, aka: Prisoner #77. He answers an ad in the paper asking for volunteers for a prison experiment. The experiment pays 4000 francs, and being low on cash he answers the ad. To make a long story short, Tarek goes undercover as a guinea pig in the experiment in order to report the story for the local news and gain his old job as a reporter.

Now the experiment is set up so that roughly half the volunteers are guards and half are prisoners. The experiment is supposed to last two weeks, but as in the real Stanford Prison Experiment it only takes a few days for all hell to break loose. The prisoners laugh and joke with the guards, who on the first day don’t really take their roles too seriously but by the second night the guards already resort to using humiliation as punishment for unruly prisoners. As with the original experiment, the methods of humiliation only become more and more perverse and depraved and finally culminate in violence. This could have been a standard prison exploitation flick, but it delves much deeper into the nature of evil and the ease with which it can seduce those in power.

I want to leave it at that. This film is such a visceral experience that to say more could ruin the whole effect. I haven’t seen a film that had me on the edge of my seat in years. And that’s saying something.

About the Author:

Chris Nelson has been an avid film fan since the age of six. His all-time splatter favorites include Lady Snowblood, Evil Dead 2, Re-Animator and Razorback.

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