10s Movie Review - The Experiment

Director: Paul Scheuring
Genre: Drama/ Thriller
Runtime: 96 minutes
Year: 2010
Starring: Adrien Brody, Forest Whitaker, Cam Gigandet, Clifton Collins Jr., Ethan Cohn, Fisher Stevens, Travis Fimmel, David Banner, Jason Lew, Damien Leake, Maggie Grace

Description: 26 men are chosen to participate in the roles of guards and prisoners in a psychological study that ultimately spirals out of control.

Review: The Stanford Prison Experiment was a psychological research that took place in August 1971. The research was led by Philip Zimbardo, psychologist and professor at Stanford University. Zimbardo wanted to investigate to what extent character traits influences the interaction between prisoners and guards. Zimbardo himself played the role of director. The ‘guards’ were given clothes that matched their status, as well as a police bat they were allowed to use. The ‘prisoners’ were given prison clothes and ankle cuffs, and their names were replaced by numbers.  
There were all kinds of rules the prisoners had to follow, the guards were allowed to use disciplinary measures, as long as they did not become violent. The test subjects were much more absorbed in their roles than Zimbardo expected, and a large number of guards showed sadistic traits. Even Zimbardo got carried away in his role as prison warden.
“The Experiment” remains partly faithful to the original experiment, and emphasizes the power and sadism the guards displayed. The main roles are played by Adrien Brody and Forest Whitaker. Brody is a pacifist who, as a prisoner, is forced to revise his pacifist ideas and Whitaker plays an apparently gentle man who soon turns out to be loving the power he gets.
The shaving of a rebellious prisoner “The Experiment”, just like “Das Experiment”, is based on the book Black Box by German writer Mario Giordano, but the effect is totally different. Hirschbiegel’s film is sibtly constructed, with a lot of attention for character development. The American film adaptation of Paul Scheuring looks more like an episode of “Prison Break”, and that’s not totally strange, since Scheuring is the big man behind the TV series. From the beginning “The Experiment” comes across as rather raw, and the film also goes beyond the original experiment. Personally I think this is a weakness, because Zimbardo’s experiment is interesting enough even without excessive violence.
Although the effect of the story is disappointing, the acting is good, especially Whitaker is sublime. Unfortunately, the script limits the actors in their possibilities and some characters are not given enough attention. For example, the romantic subplot is only partially worked out in the film, making the role of Maggie Grace irrelevant.
I wasn’t impressed by “The Experiment”.

Rating: 2,5/ 5