Rugged job behind bars

The Experiment
Stars Moritz Bleibtreu, Christian Berkel, Oliver Stokowski, Woton Wilke Mohring.
The AV Channel. Rated MA.
Reviewer: PTE Simone Heyer

Being a winner in the Berlin film festival doesn’t guarantee a good film. But this film is unforgettable.

The Experiment is about Tarek Fahd (Bleibtreu), who wants to earn a bit of extra cash and replies to a newspaper ad looking for people to take part in a simulated prison-style experiment.

The job pays well for two weeks in solitary confinement.

Tarek was a print journalist until it became too stressful, so he began driving taxis. He goes into the experiment with a view to write a winning story with photos acquired from Bond-style glasses.

What ensues is a Lord of the Flies-type scenario where a group of ordinary men are separated in two – the guards and the prisoners. It’s interesting to see how they take to their roles in the prison, where in civvie street they’d co-exist.

People with normally weak natures are put into a guard role and their sense of self-worth increased with their exertion of power over the prisoners.

One particularly sick guard coerces the rest of the guards to his way of thinking and before long the experiment escalates out of control.

It’s left to Tarek and his Air Force cell-mate to end the experiment and restore order.

This brilliant film will make you sick to the stomach and your palms sweat. See at all costs.