This movie was loosely based on so-called 1971. Stanford Prison Experiment where a group of average college kids were arbitrarily divided into groups of "prisoners" and "prison guards". The point of this psychological "game" was to see whether humanity and individualization would win over type-casting and group psychology. The experiment was a failure (or a success, depends on the viewpoint) because it had to be stopped after only 6 days - the "guards" were becoming overly sadistic and the "prisoners" started to develop psychological problems.
Anyways, German movie "Das Experiment" follows the same scenario but infuses it with some additional elements as well and offers a bit more drastic resolution. Unfortunately, the final result is not really impressive.
For me the movie fails on what should be its strongest point - characterization. The whole point should have been the experiment subjects' slow deterioration from average joes to sadistic guards on one side and tortured prisoners on the other side. But obviously this was too large a bite for the director to handle, because the movie starts to fall apart right about the middle of it and then proceeds to become more and more unbelievable and unrealistic by the end almost no one can take it seriously. There are so many dubious coincidences and decisions that at one point or another you will simply have to give up.
There are additional points which drag the movie further down. A whimsical love-story is introduced which is absolutely pointless and just further waters down the plot. It would have been far more interesting for the audience to see more of the characters involved in the experiment before it actually started rather than watch a development of a pretty phony-looking love story. Also, and I must say this, I seriously detest product placement in movies. There is a certain German bank logo popping up throughout the entire movie, and it REALLY messes up the whole experience. Shame on you for that.
But with all its shortcomings, this is not a bad movie. Performances are great (especially those by the lead protagonist and antagonist), camera work is impressive, the movie is never quite boring in spite of majority of it happening in the same location and so on. It's a nice time spender, but sadly nothing more.
6/10
Anyways, German movie "Das Experiment" follows the same scenario but infuses it with some additional elements as well and offers a bit more drastic resolution. Unfortunately, the final result is not really impressive.
For me the movie fails on what should be its strongest point - characterization. The whole point should have been the experiment subjects' slow deterioration from average joes to sadistic guards on one side and tortured prisoners on the other side. But obviously this was too large a bite for the director to handle, because the movie starts to fall apart right about the middle of it and then proceeds to become more and more unbelievable and unrealistic by the end almost no one can take it seriously. There are so many dubious coincidences and decisions that at one point or another you will simply have to give up.
There are additional points which drag the movie further down. A whimsical love-story is introduced which is absolutely pointless and just further waters down the plot. It would have been far more interesting for the audience to see more of the characters involved in the experiment before it actually started rather than watch a development of a pretty phony-looking love story. Also, and I must say this, I seriously detest product placement in movies. There is a certain German bank logo popping up throughout the entire movie, and it REALLY messes up the whole experience. Shame on you for that.
But with all its shortcomings, this is not a bad movie. Performances are great (especially those by the lead protagonist and antagonist), camera work is impressive, the movie is never quite boring in spite of majority of it happening in the same location and so on. It's a nice time spender, but sadly nothing more.
6/10