It's late on Saturday night, and moths are flying out of the husband's and my bank accounts. Really, what else can a broke-ass couple do other than watch free movies on Starz on Demand?
The Experiment, made in 2010, stars Adrian Brody and Forest Whitaker. The basic premise is that a hippie who looks like Jesus(Adrian Brody) REALLY wants to go to India with some chick, but doesn't have the funds to do so. He finds an ad in the paper, offering $1000 dollars a day for what is claimed to be a safe behavioral experiment that will last exactly two weeks. Lacking complete common sense, he thinks it's in no way suspicious or strange, and signs up. He gets chummy with a goody-goody Christian boyscout(Forrest Whitaker) and some stereotypical dork(Ethan Cohn) as they are informed that it will be a PRISON experiment, where they will recreate a penitentiary environment by separating the human guinea pigs into two groups: guards and prisoners. Everyone's psyched and not the least bit concerned as they head to the testing facility and everything proceeds to go to shit. This really plays out as a modern version of the Stanford prison experiment, performed in 1971. I won't go any further, because the film really is worth seeing and I'd hate to spoil things too terribly.
There are quite a few things that I really appreciated in this film, and I'd like to take a minute to highlight three of those here.
The opening sequence a fantastic blend of animal and human violence, easily blurring the two to show what we try so dear to disguise... We desperately try so hard to cling to this strange idea that we have morally and biologically evolved beyond our fellow animal. In the end, we just fluff up this shell we call morals 'n ethics that is easily broken in times of trauma. Beneath all of this superfluous bullshit resides our Id, and the fact that this is spelled out in the intro sets the proper tone for the film to unfold.
The Experiment, made in 2010, stars Adrian Brody and Forest Whitaker. The basic premise is that a hippie who looks like Jesus(Adrian Brody) REALLY wants to go to India with some chick, but doesn't have the funds to do so. He finds an ad in the paper, offering $1000 dollars a day for what is claimed to be a safe behavioral experiment that will last exactly two weeks. Lacking complete common sense, he thinks it's in no way suspicious or strange, and signs up. He gets chummy with a goody-goody Christian boyscout(Forrest Whitaker) and some stereotypical dork(Ethan Cohn) as they are informed that it will be a PRISON experiment, where they will recreate a penitentiary environment by separating the human guinea pigs into two groups: guards and prisoners. Everyone's psyched and not the least bit concerned as they head to the testing facility and everything proceeds to go to shit. This really plays out as a modern version of the Stanford prison experiment, performed in 1971. I won't go any further, because the film really is worth seeing and I'd hate to spoil things too terribly.
There are quite a few things that I really appreciated in this film, and I'd like to take a minute to highlight three of those here.
The opening sequence a fantastic blend of animal and human violence, easily blurring the two to show what we try so dear to disguise... We desperately try so hard to cling to this strange idea that we have morally and biologically evolved beyond our fellow animal. In the end, we just fluff up this shell we call morals 'n ethics that is easily broken in times of trauma. Beneath all of this superfluous bullshit resides our Id, and the fact that this is spelled out in the intro sets the proper tone for the film to unfold.
The best acting in the film is hands down done by Forest Whitaker. Adrian Brody did a fine job with his character, but Forest just nailed his role, delivering a solid performance in each and every scene.. He made it his own, as any actor should do. Every single gesture, every facial expression and every scenario was completely believable.
Besides the beautiful cinematography and the phenomenal acting, the fact that the film never explains the experiment is the cherry on top. Too many films nowadays spell EVERYTHING out for you and give you everything on a silver platter. Who cares what the purpose of the experiment was? The focus of this film were the very human reactions between individuals stuck in a very fucked up situation.
I really enjoyed this film, and would recommend it to anyone. GO RENT IT NOW. I give it an 8/10.
Besides the beautiful cinematography and the phenomenal acting, the fact that the film never explains the experiment is the cherry on top. Too many films nowadays spell EVERYTHING out for you and give you everything on a silver platter. Who cares what the purpose of the experiment was? The focus of this film were the very human reactions between individuals stuck in a very fucked up situation.
I really enjoyed this film, and would recommend it to anyone. GO RENT IT NOW. I give it an 8/10.
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