A powerful and fascinating work of art, and one of the absolute finest films of 2002. Love it or hate it, this German masterwork is guaranteed to lodge a permanent place in your psyche.
The Package
DAS EXPERIMENT is a product of the New New
German Cinema. The old NGC occurred in the seventies, and
introduced us to the works of filmmakers like
Werner Herzog,
Wim
Wenders and Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Since then, not a whole
lot occurred in German cinema until 1999, when the international
smash RUN LOLA RUN (LOLA RENT) made its bow-it’s no coincidence
that DAS EXPERIMENT features Moritz Bleibtreu, one of LOLA’S
main cast members, in the lead role.
DAS EXPERIMENT is also notable for the fact that its
subject matter-an experiment in leadership gone disastrously
wrong-is so particularly well suited to the land that birthed
the Third Reich (the ultimate experiment in failed leadership).
That it was Germany who gave us such a perceptive look at
emerging fascism is a cause for hope (no matter how much
director Oliver Hirschbiegel claims that all such parallels were
unintentional)--I just hope the rest of the world learns from
it.
The Story
Tarek, a sometime journalist, decides to take part in a
psychological experiment so he can later write about it. Said
experiment consists of gathering up 20 men off the street and
dividing them into prisoners and guards inside a nightmarish,
antiseptic research facility. After a lengthy prologue where the
hero gets involved with an attractive woman he meets in a car
accident (the weakest part of the film), the experiment gets
underway. Things start out innocently enough, with much joking
around, but quickly turn ugly as Tarek’s naturally rebellious
nature asserts itself and the “guards” grow resentful. This
leads to an increasingly brutal series of prisoner-guard
confrontations as fascism asserts itself with a vengeance,
leading to some truly disturbing business that apparently caused
fainting in a number of festival screenings.
The Direction
This film is based upon an actual experiment conducted
by Dr. Philip Lombardo at Stanford University back in 1971.
Lombardo reportedly terminated the exercise early, as the
“guards” turned fascistic extremely quickly, meaning this film’s
story is NOT, as some critics have ignorantly concluded,
sensational and unrealistic. In point of fact, it couldn’t be
more convincing. It takes Lombardo’s experiment to its hideous
extremes, as the faux guards mercilessly humiliate and brutalize
their charges, eventually taking over the research facility’s
headquarters for an astonishingly violent climax.
Stylish, energetic and efficient are the words to
describe Oliver Hirschbiegel’s work on DAS EXPERIMENT, his first
feature, not to mention audacious, unflinching and just plain
exciting as hell. DAS EXPERIMENT is, quite simply, one of the
most impressive debut films of recent years. Yes, the opening
scenes, which utilize a number of ill-advised
Nicholas Roeg-ish
time jumps, taxed my patience somewhat, but once the experiment
begun I was hooked--meaning if you’re an audience member and are
planning to walk out, you’d better do so within the first twenty
minutes, because you will NOT be able to later on!
It could be argued that the climax, which incorporates
a (somewhat implausible) break-out, an attempted rape, a mad
race back to the facility by its vacationing head and an
impromptu visit by the hero’s girlfriend, all at the same
time, may be a tad farfetched in light of the
near-documentary realism of the rest of the film, but
Hirschbiegel carries it off with such panache--and unbearable
suspense--that, well, who really cares?
Vital Statistics
DAS EXPERIMENT (THE EXPERIMENT)
Samuel Goldwin Films/Senator Film
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Producers: Marc Conrad, Norbert Preuss, Friedrich Wildfeuer
Screenplay: Don Bohlinger, Christoph Darnstadt
(Based on the novel BLACK BOX by Mario Giordano)
Cinematography: Rainer Klausmann
Editor: Hans Funck
Cast: Moritz Bleibtreu, Christian Berkel, Oliver Stokowski,
Wotan Wilke Mohring, Stephan Szasz, Polat Dal, Danny Richter,
Ralf Muller, Justus Von Dohnanyi