neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Das Experiment
	Oliver Hirschbiegel Moritz Bleibtreu, Justus Von Dohnanyi, Oliver Stokowski, Maren Eggert, Andrea Sawatzki, Timo Dierkes, Antoine Monot Jr. 2001		Story inconsistencies and circumstantial conveniences aside, "Das Experiment" is a rousing, edge-of-the-precipice thriller from Germany that keeps you enveloped in its dangerous "controlled" circumstances until the harsh end. A group of scientists seeks subjects to participate in a two-week research project simulating the jailhouse relationship between guards and prisoners. Something seems fishy about this behavioral experiment to journalist-turned-cabbie Tarek (Moritz Bleibtreu of "Run Lola Run"). He's lured by the quick financial payoff that the test subjects are offered, but decides to go undercover and report on the situation for an investigative journal that used to employ him. After 20 innocuous-enough "lab rats" are chosen, they're divided into prisoners and guards, safety ground rules are set, and everyone's locked down. Tarek, designated a prisoner, decides to shake things up for a better story, but he has no idea of the madness he'll unleash in what becomes a petri dish for totalitarianism.