Movies - Das Experiment

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	Movies - Das Experiment

Das Experiment ("The Experiment" in the US) is a 2001 German movie inspired by the events of the Stanford prison experiment in the United States.

Storyline

Tarek Fahd (Moritz Bleibtreu) participates with 19 other candidates in a prison-simulation experiment for two weeks advertised in a newspaper. The candidates are selected by a computer to be either prisoner or guard. The experiment begins smoothly, but quickly deteriorates as the guards, in particular Berus (Justus von Dohnanyi), develop megalomaniac tendencies. Prof. Klaus Thon (Edgar Selge), perceiving the deterioration as standard psychological reactions, refuses to end the experiment, to the protest of his assistant Dr. Jutta Grimm (Andrea Sawatzki). As time progresses, the guards go to great lengths to conceal their actions and keep the experiment running, eventually imprisoning two professors, including Grimm. The revelation that the two-week experiment will now have no end strikes the prisoners, and they rise up in a bloody showdown against the guards, with members of both sides suffering gruesome deaths. The prisoners escape and Berus is arrested for murder.

Similarities with real events

Although in the opening credits the movie claims to not be based on any real events, it is clear that the Stanford Prison Experiment provided a basis for the plot. However, the time period in the movie is protracted and many details fictionalized in comparison to the real situation in order to provide character depth and a proper storyline. The experiment in Stanford was aborted after six days following concerns from the scientists that the guards were abusing the prisoners, and that the prisoners (some of who were really college students) were undergoing psychological damage and becoming increasingly withdrawn. These concerns are echoed in the film by Dr. Grimm, but Prof. Thon decides not to act on them, forming the basis for a more intense climax. Nonetheless, a number of events from the real experiment are mirrored in the film. The prisoners were indeed sprayed with fire extinguishers and prisoners were also forced to clean the toilets with their bare hands, although in the original experiment several were forced to do this - in the film only Tarek was forced to do so as punishment.

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