Inspired by The Standford prison experiment (Zimbardo et al., 1971), Oliver Hirschbiegel drags us with Das Experiment (2001) in a breathless thriller. Staring Moritz Bleibtreu, Christian Berkel and Andrea Sawatzki, the movie was rewarded for “best director” (Munich, 2001), “best screenplay” (Porto, 2002) and “best actor” for Moritz Bleibtreu (Seattle, 2002).
Synopsis
Tarek (Moritz Bleibtreu) is a middle-aged taxi driver, journalist in his spare time. Attracted by the money and feeling a potential sensational article, he decides to participate in a social experiment conducted by Professor Thon (Edgar Selge) destined to observe how men would react in an environment that allow power or retrieve them from it temporarily : prison.
The experiment reunited twenty healthy – psychologically and physically- men without criminal record, in a mock prison set up in a university’s basement. Two groups were made up : eight participants took on the role of “guards” and had to enforce order ; twelve other participants, including Tarek, played “prisoners”, were called by numbers and were deprived artificially of their civil rights. The task was relatively simple : the prisoners had to obey the guards. Each participant gave their consent, were conscious of the fact that they had the right to quit the experiment at any moment and that the scientific were observing them through cameras. The experiment was planned to last two weeks, there was one absolute rule : no violence allowed.
If the experiment started well, it did not take long before the guards took their role seriously and the prisoners felt trapped showing signs of extreme stress and anxiety. Violence was prohibited …or was supposed to be.
Critics : contains spoilers
The experiment began on a light and humorous tone, with some friendships drawing between participants but fast enough things change radically when n°77 -Tarek rebels himself against the bad attitude of the guards, making him instantly “the man to shoot”. Participants of the Guards’ group turn bad, especially Berus (Justus von Dohnanyi) to whom “Humiliation is the only way we can solve [these] troubles.“. Becoming as animals fighting for respect and seeking the prisoners’ submision to their authority, the guards don’t hesitate to use insults, physical violence, bad treatments, humiliations…
The movie illustrates well the extreme brutality a person can develop if he‘s let with an ilimited power and how easy it is for “Mr Average” to act in a brutal way or to submit himself totally.
The scientific are quickly overwhelmed by the situation : on the one hand they are “satisfied” because the experiment works and permits them to collect a lot of data but on the other hand their scientific goal tends to make them cynical, nearly sadistic. Even if during all the experiment the researchers were able to watch almost each of the participants’ behaviors and observed certain prisoners showed signs of extreme stress, begging to stop, they continued to observe, denying the pain “He’s faking it” and treating the participants as psychometrics variables “We can’t separate ourselves of this prisoner, he’s a major factor of the group’s dynamic“. Here the science ethic is questioned : how come that research had continued while half of its participants were becoming ill ?
Finally, we could question the relevance of a romance in this movie. The story between Tarek (Edgar Selge) and Dora (Maren Eggert ) did not always served the action and seemed (to me) to come from nowhere. In another way, it allowed times of reconnection with “reality” and accentuated the brutality of the mock prison.
In the fiction as in the real experience, even though the study ended after only 6 days, it should have been stopped way before. The Standford prison experience is frequently cited as an example of unethical research in psychology.
To conclude, “Das experiment” illustrates well what Zimbardo’s experiment highlighted : the powerful role that a particular situation can play in human behavior. That movie makes its viewers speechless sometimes horrified and lets a question for each of them . What would have I done if I was in their situation ?
A movie with a disturbing atmosphere, exposing the dynamics of aggression and submission.
Hélène LE CORRE M2-PPCECC
Trailer : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDiiprdEIHM
5 words :
- mock prison : prison factice
- Mr Average (Joe Bloggs-John Doe) = Mr Tout-le-monde
- to be overwhelmed : être dépassé par
- to beg : supplier ; implorer
- viewer : spectateur