When a Hollywood remake of the intense German thriller drama “The Experiment” was announced in 2009, anticipation was limited in both the US and Germany. Such a great work just didn’t need a reprint. What should be improved about it?
But when it turned out that Forest Whitaker (Oscar for “The Last King of Scotland”), Adrien Brody (Oscar for “The Pianist”) and “Lost” star Maggie Grace and Fisher Stevens (“Number 5 is alive”, Oscar as producer of “The Bay”) were cast in major roles, there was still hope. The choice of Paul Scheuring as director and screenwriter also caused people to look up. After all, the inventor of the series hit “Prison Break” was very familiar with the subject of prison. But the flat, smoothed”The experimentcan’t even keep the original at bayas not only our FILMSTARTS review of the remake confirms.
“The Experiment” will be broadcast today, February 9, 2023, at 11:55 PM on Tele 5. If you want to watch the film despite our warning, but the date is too late in the evening, it can be streamed for free in the broadcaster’s media library until February 17, 2023. Alternatively, you can of course buy the FSK 18 title on Blu-ray/DVD or stream it for a fee via Amazon Prime Video, among others.
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Originally intended by the studio for a worldwide theatrical release, “The Experiment” ended up being released both in North America and here only as a “direct to video” release. In any case, we recommend viewing the original (again?). by “Der Untergang” director Oliver Hirschbiegel with Moritz Bleibtreu, Christian Berkel, Wotan Wilke Möhring and Justus von Dohnányi, among others.
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“The Experiment” on Tele 5: That’s the story
Travis (Adrien Brody) and his new girlfriend Kelly (Maggie Grace) plan an extended vacation in India. Unfortunately, the elderly nurse has just lost his job. To raise the money needed for the dream trip, Travis responds to a newspaper ad in which a scientist (Fisher Stevens) is looking for paid subjects for a two-week psychological experiment.
Only a short time later, the convinced pacifist finds himself in a simulated prison wing, in which the test participants are divided into guards and prisoners. The task of the first group is to nonviolently convince the second group to abide by the rules set by the researcher. If this does not work, the experiment will not take place and no one will get their money.
With Travis acting defiantly, the guards, overseen by Barris (Forest Whitaker) and the sadistic Chase (Cam Gigandet), specifically target him and try to “break” him. As one of their levers, they refuse to give Travis’ cellmate Benji (Ethan Cohn) his much-needed insulin…
These are the real backgrounds of “The Experiment”
Like the German original, “The Experiment” is based on the novel “The Experiment – Black Box” by Mario Giordano. The book is inspired by true events that took place in 1971 as part of an experiment in the psychology department of Stanford University in California.
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The so-called “Stanford Prison Experiment” was intended to investigate human behavior in captivity – especially under the field conditions of everyday prison life – as authentically as possible. The experiment, which was conducted in 1971 and was to last for two weeks, was aborted by the psychologists on the sixth day.
Because it quickly got out of hand. After only a few days, several “prisoners” developed extreme stress reactions, while several “guards” showed sadistic behavior. In some cases, the test leader had to intervene to prevent physical violence. On the sixth day, the experiment was stopped – also because the scientists realized that they had lost their objectivity when they actively acted against an uprising by the “prisoners”.
At the time of the breakup, four of the “prisoners” had already suffered an emotional breakdown and as a result had to be “released” for treatment. Another developed a severe mental rash and was also taken to hospital. At a meeting with everyone involved, which took place a year after the experiment, it was determined that apparently no one had long-term psychological consequences. There were also no serious injuries, deaths or legal consequences for the management of the experiment at Stanford.
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