The Grizzly Experiment

Yesterday I watched Das Experiment with my family.

It's a German movie based on the 1971 "Stanford Prison Experiment" in which a makeshift prison was constructed in a research lab and 20 men were split into two groups - the prisoners and the guards.

The prisoners, of course, are required to follow seemingly mild rules but the experiment soon gets out of control as key members of the team start to clash over the struggle for power.

Das Experiment centres around main character Tarek, or for the purposes of the experiment, Prisoner #77 (Moritz Bleibtreu) who claims to be a taxi driver (and is) but is actually a reporter sent underground with hi-tech spying equipment to gather information about the experiment.

Tarek's inability to baton down to the task in hand and apparent delight in winding up the guards leads to the routine humiliation of not only himself but also his fellow inmates and guard, Berus (Justus von Dohnanyi) makes it his ambition to win the position of ultimate power.

I really recommend this movie. Mr Bojangles sent me an article about it a few months ago and now I've seen the movie I feel pretty good about it, it's brutal in parts, savage in others and doesn't answer all the questions you might hope a film like this might, but that's ok.

Watch it!

And also, if you haven't already, check out Grizzly Man which throws up a mixture of emotions too, about Timothy Treadwell, the environmentalist and bear-enthusiast who, perhaps inevitably, ended up as bear food.

I felt sad as the film ended and although the man was clearly unique and in some sense freakish, I don't think you can help feeling for the guy, who truly believed he had found his calling in life.