Rating: B-
I was recently home sick and got the chance to watch a few movies on my DVR. One of them was 2010's The Experiment starring Adrien Brody and Forrest Whitaker.
This is a remake of a German film "Das Experiment" from 2002 that is a sort of what if scenario to the Stanford Prison Experiments. These experiments were an investigation into the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner and prison guard, and ended abruptly after only 6 days due to the extreme nature at which the subjects adapted to their roles. The film explores what would possibly have happened if the experiment was not aborted.
STORY
The film starts out with Brody's character Travis being portrayed as a person incapable of violence. His knuckles are pristine with no evidence of fighting whatsoever. He is at a political rally and when confronted with some aggression, stands up for himself, but does not resort to violence. I wonder if the soldier who threatened him was allowed to get his hands on him, would he have defended himself or just took a beating. Travis learns about the experiment after being fired from his job as a healthcare worker for the elderly. In need of money ( I think he wants to follow his girlfriend to India) he applies for a position in the experiment to earn the $14k paycheck it offers. We are then introduced to Forrest Whitaker's character Barris, who is a man in his 40's living with his elderly and verbally abusive mother. He takes part in the experiment to help pay for her hip replacement surgery.
When these characters first meet, we are shown just how "nice" and cordial they are to each other. Barris seems like a friendly and caring guy who just has a hard time of life by being cursed with a mother who harshly criticizes him seemingly for being alive. Travis is the ultimate peace-loving human being. I couldn't help but feel the set up that by the end of the film these two would be at odds.
We're next shown how the subjects are psychologically evaluated prior to acceptance to the experiment, supposedly to weed out any people with a propensity for violence, ex-convicts or sociopaths, however I think the evaluators were either the worst ever at the job, or they deliberately put a bunch or volatile and potentially dangerous people in a stressful situation and then yelled "go!". I believe the latter. The evaluation included some questions about each subject's background and a video showing a variety of violent images. I have to note that the video was interesting to me because it showed a lot of footage of wild animals sort of doing what they do and attacking each other, then it switched to humans in some violent confrontations, and I noticed that the animals didn't bother me, but I was really unnerved by the human footage. I guess its because animals are motivated by survival...while humans can do some horrible stuff because they believe its the right thing to do. That scares the crap out of me, especially during a time where I see a ridiculous amount of racially charged political hatred flying around down here in Charlotte, NC. The "wrong" outcome down here could send some people into a killing rage.
Anyway, the subjects are chosen and the experiment begins. Barris is a guard, and Travis is a prisoner. The guards are given only 5 rules for the prisoners (they must eat 3 meals a day and it must all be consumed, there will be 30 minutes of rec daily, prisoners are only allowed in prisoner-designated areas, prisoners may speak only when spoken to, and prisoners must not touch the guards under any circumstances.) They are told that if anyone breaks the rules, they must be punished "commensurately", however no violence is to be used at all or a red light will come on, the experiment will be terminated, and no one will receive the $14k.
Things start out pretty easily without many incidents, however, after one inmate accidentally whallops a guard in the face with a basketball, the tone of oppression is set. Pushups are ordered, and the prisoners grudgingly oblige. Then at mealtime, some nasty poo-looking beans are served and a food fight happens. Later the Guards lament not being able to control the prisoners, and we see Barris suggest that they should embarrass Travis, who is seen as the ringleader to get him to "get with the program". Travis is snatched out of bed, shaved bald and peed on, then sent back to bed. The red light doesn't come on, so Barris believes his punishment was ok.
Travis later discovers his cellmate Benjy is in such bad sweaty shape because he has diabetes and needs insulin. However his medication is in his personal bag, and thus not allowed. Travis asks another guard, Bosch, to get the insulin for Benjy. Bosch agrees, but is seen by Barris via the surveillance cameras. Barris gives Benjy the insulin, but later has Bosch brutally beaten and then added to the prison population. He then forces Travis to clean his toilet in a scene that really shows Whitaker's acting chops. He's great at playing crazy dudes in a really terrifying manner. I keep hearing him rattle off "this guy’s gonna die if he doesn't get his insulin" like a speedy Chicago rapper. That whole scene is testament to his skill. My skin actually crawled.
One guard, Chase, who was struggling with a sex addiction, corners and tries to rape one of the prisoners. Angered upon discovering there is even a camera in the boiler he's trapped in, Travis escapes and runs to where Benjy's body lies. Enraged by the fact that he was just chained up there and left to die rather than getting medical attention, he runs off and, hearing the other inmate plead for help, saves him from the rape. He then sets all the prisoners free, and they rush the guards, breaking into their quarters and then chasing them through the compound. A brutal (and satisfying) battle happens and ends with Travis punching Barris in the face so much I thought he should have looked a lot worse after the red light and siren finally put it all to an end.
The weirdest aspect of the whole movie is the end. The doors open, and everyone steps out into the yard. The realization that it was all "pretend" really smacks you in the face as they show the subjects sitting in the grass silently waiting to see what happens next. Never mind the fact that they were all trying to kill each other a few minutes ago. A bus pulls into the yard, they all get on, and we're surprised by the fact that Barris holds a check for $14k.
CONCLUSION
I think the experiment was intended to see what would happen if the measure of the subject's morality (the red light) never activated. How far would they go before their conscience would kick in, or would that ever happen at all? The experiment was not about it ending IF they broke the rules; it was about seeing what would happen WHEN the rules were broken.
I really enjoyed watching Whitaker's performance. He is truly underrated, and one of the best at playing unhinged, dangerous, yet vulnerable characters. All in all I enjoyed the movie; however I took off a couple grade points after I was able to let it soak in. I know for a fact that the premise is real and that it could actually happen, I think I was just turned off by the Hollywood treatment it received, especially the epilogue where Travis and his girlfriend meet in India with all the soothing music and she looks at his now bruised-up knuckles. The brutality was done in a really visceral way, and little touches like how nasty that toilet was were really effective. The film was just a bit too polished, and I would really like to see the original German version of the film and how it treated the ending events. Once I do that I may adjust my rating of this one a bit. All in all I feel alright recommending this one.
