The Experiment
- IMDb link: 0250258
- IMDb rating: 7.7 (98,969 votes) Search
- Genres: Thriller, Drama
- Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel, Moritz Bleibtreu
- Cast: Oliver Stokowski, Christian Berkel, Wotan Wilke Mohring and others
- Release date: 8 Mar 2001
- Release year: 2001
- Runtime: 120 minutes
- Country: Germany
- Keywords: experiment, prisoner revolt, obedience, mental breakdown, domination, psychological torture, female frontal nudity, human experimentation, male rear nudity, psychological experiment
Plot
Storyline
For two weeks, 20 male participants are hired to play prisoners and guards in a prison. The "prisoners" have to follow seemingly mild rules, and the "guards" are told to retain order without using physical violence.
In need of extra cash, the part-time taxi driver, Tarek Fahd, volunteers to take part in a controversial social experiment which aims at faithfully reconstructing the psychology of prison life. In the following two weeks, within the walls of a controlled makeshift prison, twelve randomly chosen men are assigned to become prisoners--losing their clothing, their identities, and their civil rights--while eight other volunteers become uniformed guards equipped with billy clubs, to maintain peace and order. However, what started as an ambitious investigation into human behaviour, rapidly escalates into a dangerously volatile situation, as the first signs of conscious violence appear only two days into the experiment. Now, Tarek, or Prisoner #77, and the rest of the inmates have become real convicts. Are they strong enough to overcome their limits?
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