| The Experiment | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Paul Scheuring |
| Produced by | Marty Adelstein Jeanette Buerling Bill Johnson Maggie Monteith Scott Nemes Dawn Parouse |
| Written by | Mario Giordano Paul Scheuring |
| Starring | Adrien Brody Forest Whitaker Cam Gigandet Clifton Collins Jr. Ethan Cohn Travis Fimmel Fisher Stevens David Banner with Maggie Grace as 'Bay' |
| Music by | Graeme Revell |
| Cinematography | Amy Vincent |
| Editing by | Peter S. Elliot |
| Studio | Inferno Distribution Inferno Entertainment Magnet Media Productions Natural Selection Tax Credit Finance |
| Distributed by | Stage 6 Films Originally: Columbia Pictures Warner Bros./Pathé (UK) |
| Release date(s) | July 15, 2010 (PiFan) |
| Running time | 96 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Experiment is a 2010 American thriller film directed by Paul Scheuring[1] and starring Adrien Brody, Forest Whitaker and Maggie Grace,[2] about an experiment which resembles Philip Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment in 1971.[3] The film is a remake of the 2001 German film Das Experiment,[4] which was directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel.[5]
When the film was still shooting, the United States distribution rights were acquired by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group,[6][7] which released the film straight-to-video in the United States on September 21, 2010 through its Stage 6 Films label.[8]
Contents |
26 men are chosen to participate in the roles of guards and prisoners in a psychological study led by a Dr Archaleta (Fisher Stevens), for which each participant is to receive $14,000 after two weeks. Included is Travis (Adrien Brody) and Barris (Forest Whitaker), who meet at the introduction of the study. Travis has just lost his part time job and is a peace protester who wants to travel to India with his girlfriend Bay (Maggie Grace), whereas Barris is a 42-year-old who lives alone with a domineering mother, who has made him join the experiment to raise money for her hip operation.
Archaleta conducts some interviews to camera (segments of which are played occasionally during the rest of the film), and exposes volunteers to various scenes of violence whilst connected to an ECG, in order to establish personality traits and emotional response and eliminate any unsuitable candidates. The remaining group is driven to an isolated building that has been set up as a prison. Archaleta splits the group into 5 guards and 21 prisoners, with Travis assigned to the prisoners and Barris (to his surprise) assigned to the guards.
They are told that there will and must be no contact with the outside world for the next 14 days but that they will be under constant surveillance. They are given some basic rules: nothing from the outside world can come into the prison, prisoners must clean their plate at every meal, cannot touch the guards and must obey any instructions from the guards. The guards in turn must ensure that the prisoners obey the rules, and deal with any transgressions commensurately within a 30 minute period, or a red light will switch on and the experiment will end. Archaleta also claims that the experiment will end immediately at the first sign of violence. If the experiment ends prematurely for any reasons, none of the participants will be paid.
Travis shares his cell with a graphic novelist named Benjy (Ethan Cohn) and an Aryan Brotherhood named Nix (Clifton Collins, Jr.), who is there against the rules as former prisoners are not allowed to participate. Barris, initially concerned that some of the guards, particularly Chase (Cam Gigandet), may be capable of violence, tries to dissuade them from aggressive behavior, but finds the prisoners not ready to accept the basic rules of enforcement that was assigned to them. As a result, they are having to become more forceful in order to make the prisoners follow the rules. He becomes more and more sadistic, all the time reassuring himself that his treatment is within the rules which according to him is the blaring red light.
Despite increasing pressure from Barris and the other guards, Travis continues to respond defiantly to the guards' abuse. Realizing that Travis is the unofficial leader of the prisoners' dissent, Barris declares that Travis needs to be humiliated as no physical retribution can be doled out. Following Barris's lead, the guards take Travis, shave his head, then urinate on him. When the red light does not come on, Barris takes this as a sign that his punishment was "commensurate" and reassures the other guards that they are behaving appropriately. When a guard named Bosche (David Banner) dissents, Barris pressures him by suggesting that acting unilaterally and quitting early will cost the guards $14,000 each.
Meanwhile, Travis discovers that Benjy has diabetes, a fact that he concealed from the experimenters, insisting that he can manage it himself if he is allowed some sugar. When Travis pleads for Bosche to intervene, Bosche tries to help Benjy by locating his insulin, but is seen on the cameras. Barris surprises Travis by giving Benjy his insulin, but later takes revenge by arranging the other guards to give Bosche a severe beating, and adding him to the prison population. Barris also orders Travis to clean the prison toilets, as punishment for both his defiant attitude and his attempt to help Benjy. Travis tries to appeal to Barris's humanity, but doesn't seem to get through. He then taunts Barris by saying that he should use his $14,000 for psychological treatment. The guards respond by shoving Travis's head into the toilet, nearly drowning him until he finally relents to their authority.
One morning during a humiliating role call, Travis takes his prisoner shirt off as a sign that the experiment should end, and is followed by the other prisoners. Travis jumps up to one of the cameras and demands that the group be let go, but is dragged to the floor by the guards, who choke him with their sticks. When Benjy tries to defend Travis, Barris hits Benjy hard on the head with his nightstick, leaving him twitching on the floor. The guards throw Travis into an old boiler pipe overnight, while the guards attack the prisoners and chain them up across the compound.
While locked in the blackened out boiler, Travis realizes that there is a hidden infrared camera watching him, even in there, and as his despondence turns to anger he manages to get out, interrupts the rape of a prisoner by Chase, and sets the other prisoners free. When he finds that Benjy has been chained up and left to die rather than be given medical treatment, he leads an assault against the guard's room, and the prisoners chase them through the building. Even as the rest of the guards try to lift the shutters and escape, Barris tries to keep them in for the sake of the $14,000 fee. As the prisoners and guards fight with each other, a siren blares and the red light comes on to reveal the end of the experiment.
As the shutter doors open, the group emerges to the sunshine and sits in stunned silence on the grass, awaiting the arrival of the experimenters. A bus arrives and they are taken away. The group are later seen being driven home on the bus, clean and dressed, with their checks for the full $14,000 for participation in the experiment. Travis and Barris share a silent glance as Barris stares down at his check. Nix asks Travis if he still believes humans are higher in the chain of evolution than monkeys, to which Travis responds that people have the ability to change. Audio news snippets suggest that Archaleta is being tried for manslaughter. Travis meets his girlfriend in India. She notices that Travis's knuckles are bruised from his brawl with the guards, in contrast to the beginning of the film, when she noted that his knuckles are pristine, an indication that he was, at the time, incapable of violence.