Pretty ridiculous that the German film Das Experiment opens with text that says it's not based on any true events whatsoever when, in fact, it completely plagiarizes its entire premise from the infamous Stanford prison experiment of 1971.
Despite this (and also borrowing elements of the experiment exactly, for those who are, somehow, familiar with both), it manages to push itself past the ridiculosity of the experiment and go even further. While the actual Stanford experiment was canceled a mere six days out of the planned fourteen, the film continues past that six-day mark and truly delves into What Might've Happened.
It gets a bit heavy - and contains an out-of-place romance and a random subplot that doesn't resolve itself (dealing with the reporter) - but it makes for great entertainment without getting too cerebral. And while there's a welcome grey-shaded morality presented in the film, there's one character portrayed as an obvious villain that tips it toward the absurd.
EDIT: There's an American remake in the making. I don't know if it's directly based off the actual Stanford experiment, Das Experiment, or the semi-fictional novel Black Box. Either way, there's another true-life event I can nix off my possibly-adapt-into-a-film list.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
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There's an episode of Veronica Mars where they sort of replicate the experiment (My Big Fat Greek Rush Week in Season 3.) Memorable ep for many reasons, the least of which being the guest star spot of Mr. Rider "Shawn from Boy Meets World" Strong.
ReplyDeleteThe episode also contains an unrelated favourite line of mine: "Vomit is the new mace". A++. I still don't know why you didn't get into this show properly.
I didn't get into VM because of its cancelation. I don't want to get heavy into something and then having it just sort of abruptly end. The HBO show Deadwood was fucking fantastic, but they axed it after season three; a damn shame.
ReplyDeleteI also sort of shyed away from TV-on-DVD since it started controlling my life. I'll make exceptions when the entire series of Lost comes out, so I can burn through it without having to put up with bullshit cliffhangers. And Mad Men. And, for whatever reason, Friday Night Lights.
(You would be thrilled to know, though, that my GF has gotten me a bit into Buffy. I've just seen a few episodes from each season, but it's pretty solid. And I obviously really liked season 4's "Hush.")
I wonder how often this experiment is reproduced in television/movies. An episode of Life explores murder in an identical situation.
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