Mountain FogRETROSPECT: DAS EXPERIMENT (THE EXPERIMENT) (2001)
April 16th 2009 06:34
Moritz Bleibtreu plays journalist Tarek Fahd in Das Experiment.
In 1971, a team of researchers at Stanford University, California, conducted a psychological experiment attempting to measure the impressionability and obedience of students when placed in a confined situation and equipped with a legitimising ideology and institutional support. Twenty-four undergraduates were selected to play the roles of both guards and prisoners and live in a mock prison in the basement of the Stanford psychology building. The roles were assigned based on a coin toss and prisoners and guards rapidly adapted to their roles, stepping beyond the boundaries of what had been predicted and leading to dangerous and psychologically damaging situations. Originally designed as a two-week examination, the situation spiralled out of control at such a speed that researchers were forced to shut the experiment down after just six days. It was on this frightening sample of human behaviour that the 2002 German film, Das Experiment, was built.
Tarek Fahd (the engaging Moritz Bleibtreu, of Run Lola Run fame) plays a Cologne-based journalist who is temporarily making ends meet by driving a taxi. When he sees an advertisement offering 4000 marks to people willing to submit to a two-week psychological experiment, Tarek is intrigued and signs up to take part in the study, persuading a former editor to help him work up a story about his experiences. Recording the events digitally using a high-tech video camera hidden in his glasses, Tarek arrives at a local university for the exercise to discover that the lead researcher, Dr. Klaus Thon (Edgar Selge) has split the group into two: half of the volunteers will pose as prison guards and the other half as prisoners. While things kick off in light-hearted manner with both guards and prisoners fooling around with their newly acquired roles, by the third day the situation is deteriorating quickly and the experiment no longer seems so make-believe. Tarek, in particular – or inmate 77 as he is now known – is keen initially to push the situation for the purposes of reportage and makes no secret of his contempt for the guards, while the Berus (a tightly-wound Justus VonDohnanyi) begins playing a dangerous game of one-upmanship with the journalist.
While there is no note to tell of their relationship at the start of the film, Das Experiment follows the real-life happenings at Stanford very closely for a large part of its running time. Indeed, many of the scenes that would seem fodder for a cheap exploitation film actually happened and this lends the already sobering images a horrific bent. Screenwriters Don Bohlinger, Christoph Darnstadt and Mario Giordano took the real Stanford experiment and carefully rearranged many small elements to better fit their narrative and character arcs, before handing it on to first time feature director Oliver Hirschbiegel, who lent the film a remarkable propulsion. Careful staging and crisp photography mark even the smallest scenes, whether it be the dramatic pan from one end of a hallway to another as a series of vertical fluorescent spring to life, or the suffocating blackness when the claustrophobic Tarek is thrown into the ‘black box’ for punishment. It’s fussed over, technique driven stuff, yet Hirschbiegel is a talented enough director that it is all of a piece.
While the real Stanford study was called off after six days – the project head convinced to do so by his horrified girlfriend – Das Experiment heightens the drama even further in its final act, as Tarek and his industrious cellmate, Steinhoff (Christian Berkel), realise they need to take action against the increasing barbarity of the guards. The film then brings to life what the mind only wonders could have happened had the Californian researchers let their project be. As Das Experiment rushes towards its conclusion, the violence and tension become almost too incredible, but such are the true events that have been rendered so far that it’s ultimately an easy leap for the audience.
Things quickly become not so make-believe in Das Experiment.
In the final assessment, Das Experiment is a gripping recreation of and riff on the infamous Stanford experiment. It’s perhaps a little disappointing that the film eschewed to explore the issues of situational attributed violence and abuse in greater depth, instead opting for a fall throttle terror. Some of the major characters, too, are a little undercooked: it’s a good thing that the filmmakers got a player of Bleibtreu’s skill and charisma on board, because the childhood background of Tarek’s egalitarian behaviour is never really explored properly. Likewise, Tarek’s outside world love interest, Dora (Maren Eggert), is underdone, and while the two make for an appealing couple, she ends up little more than a simple plot device. Regardless, Das Experiment is a potent exercise in dazzling style and breakneck storytelling and can rightly take its place as one of the finest thrillers to come out of Germany in recent times.
Take a look at the official website of the original Stanford experiment here.
Check out the trailer for Das Experiment below:
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Comment by MVD
And, well, the fact that Germans have added their interpretation rouses my curiosity all the more.
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
MVD, I recommend that you watch "Die Welle", another German movie that takes another look at another psychological experiment - the recreation of fascism in an American high school in just 5 days.
Comment by Damo
The rapid decline of people to thuggery plays out as each one confronts their own insecurities and live out the own sadistic dreams.
The isolation chamber had a presence as soon as it was revealed. It was like a loaded gun waiting to off.
Certainly something I recommend.
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
And the German angle is a really good one - it really adds a further layer of tension as the prisoners can't believe what is happening to them. To give you some context, directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel who went on to direct Downfall - the human face of fascism on his mind, methinks.
Dave - thanks, yeah, catch it as soon as you can. It's great stuff. No doubt it will be playing on SBS ten times this year - but in HD - yay!
Cheers Cib - I tend to agree and perhaps that was because they could have focused a bit more on the character stuff and then dig into psychology of it some more.
Damo, thanks for reading. Yep, the introduction of the Black Box is great. You just see Tarek look at it and gulp and you can almost see the sweat emerging in his pores. Fantastic moment - loaded gun describes it beautifully.
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
I enjoyed this one too for its taut delivery and intriguing exploration of primal human behaviour...almost like an updated version of Lord of the Flies...I reviewed it myself sometime ago, if your interested you can read my Das Experiment review HERE
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight