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Das Experiment
Samuel Goldwyn Films


9.0

based on 20 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 7 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Moritz Bleibtreu, Christian Berkel, Oliver Stokowski, Wotan Wilke Möhring, Stephan Szasz, and Polat Dal

Inspired by the Stanford Prison Experiment, this psychological drama focuses on twenty paid recruits who are divided into groups "prisoners" and "guards" and are let loose in a controlled prison-like environment.

GENRE(S):	Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Don Bohlinger Christoph Darnstädt Mario Giordano (also novel Black Box)
DIRECTED BY:	Oliver Hirschbiegel
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: July 1, 2003 Video: July 1, 2003 Theatrical: September 18, 2002
RUNNING TIME:	114 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	Germany
LANGUAGE(S):	German (with English subtitles)

Best Actor (Bleibtreu), 2002 Seattle Internatoinal Film Festival; Best Director, 2001 Montreal World Film Festival

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

New Times (L.A.) Bill Gallo

En route, we also get a chance to examine the nature of the self and the responsibilities of science. Das Experiment has all this and more, excitingly packaged as a prison movie featuring superb performances and high emotional tension.

New York Post Megan Lehmann

One of those all-too-rare cases in which a riveting premise is expertly executed.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Because the confrontations between power and powerlessness are so dramatic and because Hirschbiegel's editing is so emphatic, Das Experiment is practically over before you realize that you don't know what its point is, exactly.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

What impressed me is how effective the movie was, even though the outcome is a foregone conclusion. That's a tribute to the director, Oliver Hirschbiegel, and the actors, who have been chosen with the same kind of typecasting that perhaps occurs in life.

San Francisco Chronicle Jonathan Curiel

Disturbing film.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Ray Conlogue

This is a grimly thrilling movie that falls somewhere between clear-eyed realism and the improbabilities of an action flick.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

There's not enough insight to the social phenomenon presented onscreen, but that doesn't make the utterly human horror of this thriller any less unsettling.

Village Voice Ed Halter

After the film's ultraviolent finale (set to the tacky beats of synth-pop volksmusik), one wonders whether this sharp bit of fascinating fascism provides a true analysis of television's new mean streak, or simply an engaging indulgence in same.

Variety Derek Elley

A solid slice of entertainment without reaching the psychological depths promised by the subject matter.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

As an exploitation picture, Das Experiment is mindlessly potent; subtitles are no guarantee of sophistication and subtlety.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Doesn't tell you anything about human nature you probably haven't already suspected, but then again it's good to be reminded of these dark things from time to time. Especially these days.

Boston Globe Janice Page

This cacophonous ending may serve to reinforce the filmmakers' cynical themes, but it leaves viewers trying desperately to remember the part of the film that had brains, wit, and so much promise.

Washington Post Staff (Not credited)

The film's hysterically pitched action overshadows its more subtle psychological points.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

It's empty calories trying to trumpet its bogus nutritional value, and the strain for social importance undermines the picture.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

First-time feature filmmaker Oliver Hirschbiegel maintains a riveting sense of simmering brutality.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Eventually any serious statement is lost in a sea of sadism, as he forces us to watch scene after scene of gruesome, humiliating torture.

Chicago Tribune Loren King

For all its slickness, is an R-rated version of "Survivor," "Big Brother" or any number of reality-TV shows that present voyeurism as entertainment and exploitation as insight.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Rigid, airless, and browbeatingly repetitive, Das Experiment is an overly didactic piece of thesis hectoring; it's like ''Lord of the Flies'' set in a Skinner box.

LA Weekly Hazel-Dawn Dumpert

Too much of a mess to say anything with assurance, pieced together as it is from mismatched institutional movies such as "Cool Hand Luke" and "Shock Corridor" -- with "Lord of the Flies" thrown in for good measure -- and turning on plot points that simply don't wash.

Washington Post Staff (Not credited)

The idea's more powerful than the movie.

The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 7 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

iacobus gave it a9:
A fantastic movie which shows how aggressive instintcs can appear from nothing.

Larry R. gave it a 9:
Powerful film! This is an intense thriller.

Ishii gave it a 5:
I badly want to give this movie a 10, since I've been waiting a long time for this to come out. But I'm a little bit disappointed. It's definetely worth watching, but it gets a little confusing at times. I was like, where the HELL did this girl come from? The main character meets her once, and they're eternally in love. We have absolutely no idea who she is.

Adam F. gave it a 10:
This was easily one of the most intense movies I've ever seen. It was so f'd up that this old woman in the row in back of me was actually crying by the end. I came out feeling that time was warped, that I was walking through a different reality because my nerves were still so jangled. I am buying this on DVD as soon as it comes out.

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Das Experiment Samuel Goldwyn Films

Das Experiment
Samuel Goldwyn Films