The SmarK DVD Rant for The Experiment

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I will say right now that I get a lot of boring junk from the studios to review, so I was really glad to come across such an incredibly intriguing movie as this one, even if it doesn’t really work as well as I wanted it to. The one thing this film cannot be described as is "boring", and I appreciate that. In fact, I’m pretty shocked that it didn’t get a theatrical release, because I can see how a segment of the movie-going population might have been really into it.

So some background is in order. This is a remake of a German film called Das Experiment, which in turn was based on a book about an experiment at Stanford in the ’70s. So it’s kind of based on a true story, which in itself is pretty scary. Even if it wasn’t taken from real life, it would still sound like a great movie premise.

Recently fired nursing home worker Travis (Adrian Brody, sporting tats and long hair that scream "liberal agenda") needs money, so he answers a newspaper ad for a research project. Two weeks work for $1000 a day. 26 subjects are shipped off to a facility in the middle of nowhere and randomly assigned one of two roles. One group, headed by Michael (Forest Whitaker), are the "guards". The other group, headed by Travis, are the "prisoners". Each side is given strict rules and procedures that they have to follow. Chiefly among them is "No violence for any reason". Deviate from those rules, and everyone goes home without their money. Prisoners are reduced to numbers only, while guards must ensure swift punishment for any unbecoming conduct. And they waste no time taking the atmosphere of the "prison" from breezy to serious, coming up with increasingly disturbing and creative punishments to ensure order is kept. Travis (or "77" as he is addressed by the authority figures) becomes the focus of their hatred, although really he’s being unreasonably stubborn about not playing along with the game at times. Hell, one of the prisoners is Clifton Collins Jr, a guy who’s only ever in movies where he’s crazy and stirring up trouble, and even he advises Travis to shut up. Meanwhile, Michael quickly descends into his role as corrupt head of the guards, as the movie kind of shifts from reality and turns into a more blatant retelling of Lord of the Flies. The message, as ever, is that civilized behavior is only defined by surroundings. There’s even an updated version of Piggy, who writes comic books no less. You know what’s going to happen, but that doesn’t mean the tension isn’t built effectively regardless, and things actually start to get pretty uncomfortable to watch as the explosion builds. Unfortunately, real life rarely provides a satisfying ending, and the movie follows suit. It’s pretty much the definition of a deus ex machina ending here, but that’s pretty much what happened back in the ’70s, too. First time director Paul Scheuring (previously known for creating Prison Break) crafts a really interesting movie here, and one that probably deserved to be seen by more people than it was. That being said, is it a great movie? Not really, but it comes awfully close. The acting from the two leads is strong, but I didn’t really feel like I understood the motivations of a lot of the other characters. One thing it does show, though, is how much we are defined by the uniforms we wear. Even though the guards try to tell the prisoners to play along so they can collect their money, we know and they know that soon enough someone is going to make trouble, because that’s what happens in real life. Would you deal with the situation any better than the poor guys given the guard uniforms do?

For further reading about this fascinating experiment, check out the web page for the actual prison experiment done in 1971, at http://www.prisonexp.org/

Audio & Video

This is a very good transfer, carrying off the dark and drab environment of the "prison" quite well. Most of the movie is dialogue-driven, but there’s some good use of the surrounds when prisoners start to go a little crazy and lose touch with reality. Everything is generally clear and well-defined.

Bonus Features

Not bad for what is basically a straight-to-DVD release. You get about 2 minutes of soundbites each from the cast members and director, a bit of deleted footage, and an 8:00 featurette about the making of the movie. Quality on the extras isn’t great, but the budget on this release had to be pretty small anyway.

Overall, this is a great premise that doesn’t quite deliver, but is still a very worthwhile and interesting use of your 90 minutes. Recommended!