Das Experiment (2001)
Germany; 114min
Drama, Thriller
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Writers: Mario Giordano (novel), Don Bohlinger
Stars: Moritz Bleibtreu, Christian Berkel, Oliver Stokowski

The film based on the novel by Mario Giordani about the Stanford Prison Experiment in which 20 volunteers agreed to spent two weeks  in which one group of them will take the roles of guards and another group will take roles of prisoners. The prisoners were placed in the cells, and the guards had an easy task to maintain order without violence. Of course, if it was all by the rules, this film would not exist.

Movie is directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, who became widely know for his movie from 2004. Downfall. He done his job very well, atmosphere is great, camera work could be better but it's satisfying. Technical par of the film is more than solid with excellent acting, especially from Moritz Bleibtreu (Run Lola Run, Munich) who plays the main character, Tarek Fahdia, journalists who expects to deliver a good story by participating in the experiment.

The story is very interesting and tense, almost a textbook example of a real thriller with a well thought-out characters. Love story is completely unneeded and it largely destroys the impression of serious movie, but it is well blended into the overall story and does not cause as much damage as it seems at first glance.

Historical inconsistency must be mentioned. Because of the dramatic story the events are shown much more extreme and violent, and real experiment was terminated when some volunteers became too violent and there were no deaths.

Film temeljen na romanu Maria Giordania o Stanford Prison eksperimentu u kojem je 20 dobrovovaljaca na dva tjedna preuzelo uloge čuvara i zatvorenika. Zatvorenici su bili smješteni u čelije, a čuvari su imali jednostavan zadatak, održavati red bez nasilja. Naravno, da je sve bilo po pravilima filma ne bi bilo.

Režiju potpisuje Oliver Hirschbiegel koji se proslavio 2004. filmom Downfall, te na nju nema neke veće kritike. Tehnički je film odrađen i više nego solidno uz izvrsnu glumu, prvenstveno Moritza Bleibtreua (Run Lola Run, Munich) koji tumači glavnog lika, Tareka Fahdia, novinara koji očekuje izvuči dobru priču sudjelovanjem u eksperimentu.

Priča je veoma interesantna i napeta, skoro pa školski primjer pravog trilera sa dobro razrađenim likovima. Nepotrebno ubacivanje ljubavne priče uvelike ruši dojam ozbiljnosti, ali dobro je uklopljena u cjelokupnu priču pa ne nanosi toliko štetu kako se čini na prvi pogled.

Također minus ide i na povijesnu nedoslijednost. Zbog filmske dramatike su događaji prikazani puno ekstremnije i nasilinije ioako je i u stvarnosti nasilje bilo uvelike prisutno. No, pravi eksperiment je bio prekinut kada se prešla granica te nije bilo smrtnih slučajeva.