The Experiment (2010)

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A film about a psychological experiment where total strangers are selected to play inmates or guards for 2 weeks. Then it gets all fucked up when their basic instincs take hold. Just to be clear, when I say 'basic instinct,' I don't mean hot women without panties. I mean the primal urge of drawing blood. To get paid. When given power, men can do awful shit and the decent ones get chewed up, because the lions eat the lambs.
It's a free-for-all out there, people. Seriously: you have the oppressed and the oppressors. And then the roles change and the oppressed become fucked up oppressors, too.

The opening credits are incredible, showing us that humans and so-called animals in the wild are one and the same: we have a thirst for violence and we are territorial and we just suck, because let's face it: we're supposed to be the smart ones. Too bad they actually have to have a conversation about this exact thing for the morons who hadn't got it. Fucking morons. Plus, in the end, they dare wax lyrical about being human. Oh: puh-lease.

Anyway, I have to say I really like Brody and Whitaker, these are two cool actors, who always have a frailty to them, no matter who they play. Seriously, both of them look as if they might pull a Boehner and start bawling their little eyes out at any moment.

But, okay before I go any further, during the opening credits: Executive Producers: Someone or other and... Al-Saadi Qadhafi. As in the son of. As in: what the bloody fuck?! As in: is this film ever going to be shown in Switzerland? As in: isn't Mr Brody Jewish, so why would Libya produce this film? Maybe to get pointers on how to torture inmates? Oh, who are we kidding? They don't need pointers.

But, in any case: WHAT THE FUCK?!

Speaking of WTFs: Fisher Stevens with hair? Really? Also, why does Forest look like he just came off the set of 'Starksy & Hutch?'

But, okay: yes, this film is about how we suck as humans. Even suckier: it's actually based on a real-life experiment. Yes, it actually happened. Well, the idea, not the exact story. But some things in real life were even more fucked up... The subjects were actually 'arrested' by 'cops' in their homes. Oh, and they didn't do it for a thousand bucks a day. But 15. How's that for fucked up? And yes: they were stripped, shaved, and deloused. So: humiliated. And they had to wear dresses and no underwears. And they had a chain around one ankle. Seriously, this already is way more fucked up than anything seen in the film. Plus, all guards were wearing mirrored sunglasses. Seriously, these psychologists are really fucked up. Even they agree: they started this thing as an experiment and they got caught up with it and became quasi-Nazis (counting prisoners, hiding the true state of the prison to family, etc). But, really: this was an experiment and they pretty much tortured people. Ah, the 70s...

Which also reminds me of another experiment done a while back, also in the 70s or maybe it was the 80s, whatever, where strangers thought they were torturing a complete stranger and were really enjoying it. They were not actually torturing the guy, who was an actor, but he was pretending to be shocked when the subjects pressed different buttons. So it proved that we, as humans, are totally fucked up. Because all the wars and murders and rage and jealousy and anger and bickering and domestic violence were not enough to prove that.

Now let's imagine Abu Ghraib, where it was NOT an experiment, where it was actually sanctioned by the government...

Anyway, back to the film... I loved the whole Ludovico-type sequence, which again, hey: not to beat a dead horse (as we humans probably enjoy doing when we're not shagging them. The horses, I mean): we SUCK! We kill, we maim, we hurt.

The funny thing is that the director and producers want to show how evil we are, but... but they have to make sure not to offend too many people, so it's still pretty politically correct. Race-wise, I mean. Okay, sure, you got one Aryan fuck in there (who's really not that big of a fuck), but then... the first incident, it's a black dude who hurts another black dude. So it's not racist, it's an accident. Then the main asshole happens to be black, but the nice guy amongst the guards is the other black guy. So it's not racist.
And maybe that was a smart move, because it's not about being white or black, it's about being human. So we're all assholes, so what's the point of it all?

Well, sometimes, there are women who are willing to get naked in front of us. So it's all okay. Then again, isn't that the main reason why we suck? Because we want to be sucked? Food for thought. No pun intended. And if it's not for the women, it's for the money: we do crazy things for money. Because we like money. Because money brings women. So, yeah: it all goes back to that. And when I say women, no offense to people who are not attracted to women. When I say women, I just mean sex.

And the film is all about that. The young asshole just wants women. And when Forest first shows what a bad ass he is, he gets a hard on. And of course the young asshole ends up being gay anyway.

We're simple folks, all of us: we want money to afford a roof over our heads so we can then go out and buy booze to pick up women to bring them to our shelters to have an orgasm. If we're lucky, the woman stays, we have kids and they do the same thing all over again. If we're unlucky, she leaves us and so we go kill someone. If the world's lucky, we just kill ourselves.

But let's get back to the 'inhumanity.' First, this word should be changed to 'humanity' because it is only us humans who can be so cruel for no reason whatsoever. We moan and grab our hair and cry when we hear about genocides and massacres. But given the chance, most of us would become monsters. Because power makes us horny. And all we want is a screaming orgasm. One day you're a regular Joe who's gotta pay for your mother's hip surgery and the next day you're an asshole pissing on a guy you kinda befriended. Yeah, that's in the film. But it's not the worst thing you see. So, yeah: nice film, of course it's not what really happened in real life, you get some pissed off people killing other people in this film, but that's cool. And pretty fucked up. I have to watch the German version now, I can only imagine how more fucked up it is. However, and as usual, the ending is weak (uhm, 2 people died, so... consequences?) and predictable. Oh, well...

PS: Really, check out the real experiment's website, it's fascinating and scary and sad: http://www.prisonexp.org/

PPS: Humanity: fuck, yeah!