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After being laid off from his job, Travis sees this add in the newspaper looking for subjects for a science experiment. He applies and learns that the experiment is simulating 14 days in prison where there a set of men who play the guards and set of men that will represent the prisoners. All in all 26 men are chosen, and divided up. Quickly there is some tension and it begins to escalate out of control.
The Experiment is well thought out film based on true events. The story is well written, the characters are developed and each character is unique and at some point humanized. As the tension within the mock prison begins to escalate their human like qualities begin to disappear and out come the animal like instincts and the will to survive.
What appears to be the central driving factor of the Experiment is the lack of human emotion and morality when given a position of power. These men instantly became the part of the prison system they were playing. They became ruthless and forgot all the things they had learned in the outside world as far as treating people with respect. They were willing to push the limits the boundaries that were originally enforced, all the while it seemed like nothing was being down about the escalating violence. As the film progressed it became a power struggle and a struggle to be the alpha male essentially. When you are looking to portray such a broad spectrum of emotions, you look to fill the lead roles with actors who are more then qualified to play any part. Forest Whitaker and Adrien Brody are more then capable actors who play these parts honestly and brilliantly. Forest is the type actor who can tear through any character and essentially make the character more menacing then anyone that possible. Whitaker when first appearing on screen seems like a humble gentleman, but we learn later on he thrives off the power and it gives him pleasure to see these “prisoners” suffer. Whitaker shows the ruthless of certain human beings as they begin to seize more and more power, while giving off one of the best performances I have seen from him. Brody is fierce as well but for different reasons all together, he is focused on getting through the days, but when things tend to stand in his way he stands his ground and doesn’t let people walk all over him. Brody is good when his character is being the leader of the “prisoners” and stands up for their rights and freedoms.
However the biggest flaw is the quick transformation of these characters. Whitaker and Brody may have done great jobs playing these characters, but they went through rapid transitions all too quickly. In the span of two days they were literally at each others throats threatening to kill one another. These characters seemed to lose all shred of humanity in less then 48 hours, which to me was a bit of a stretch. It seemed to forced and way to quick, build the tension a little bit more, let the audience get a feel for the tense moments and then have a explosion of a climax that sets the standard for the entire film. The Experiment exposes the core of its story way too early on leaving the audience with just more images of violence.
The Experiment is a good film, it has a lot of messages embedded within it, and they do make sense, there are just a few flaws that take away from the ultimate message. Some of the characters fit way too stereotypically into being either a “prisoner” or a “guard” and perhaps had it been the other way around the tension could have been even that much more awkward.
In the end what ultimately saves The Experiment from being a total bust of a film is the fact that Forest Whitaker and Adrien Brody can steal scenes and command the screen.
6/10
