Films that are based on real life are always interesting. I think we’ve accepted that most do take some liberties with the source material and personally I’m fine with that as long as it’s done with the right intent. It’s why I got really angry with The Imitation Game when they made someone into the stereotypical authority figure that hates the protagonist for no reason other than the plot needs him to. But even if they do differ from some of the reality, ‘real life’ films can still teach us about the past and at least encourage us to learn more about the actual event. Can The Stanford Prison Experiment do this?
Dr. Philip Zimbardo (Billy Crudup, Watchmen) has set up an experiment in the basement of the Stanford psychology building where he has made some students in prison guards and some prisoners in order to see what happens if you try to take the identity away from inmates. However plenty of unexpected things start to happen, with the guards abusing their power while the prisoners start to break down mentally.
What’s interesting is that this film decides to delve right into the experiment without that much exposition about what is actually going on. In some way that’s good, we came to see the experiment and the film is giving us the experiment, but there are some issues with this. Firstly, the film seems to assume we know what the experiment is and why it’s being done. Now in America, this may be the case, I don’t know. But here in the UK, it’s not that well known unless you are a psychology student so it’d have been nice if we could have had a bit of explanation at the start of the film telling us what the experiment is for.
One of the issues this film has is to try and overcome is to get us to know a bunch of prisoners in a short amount of time before the experiment’s effects hit so we empathise for them. The director Kyle Patrick Alvarez (C.O.G) is smart in his storytelling here, with the bulk of the film focusing on two prisoners, Daniel (Ezra Miller, The Perks of Being a Wallflower) and Peter (Tye Sheridan, Mud) as well as of course the guards and Dr. Zimbardo himself. That’s not to say the rest of the prisoners are just glorified extras, we do get to know them to an extent, but the film decides to focus on a small number of characters to make sure we get the full impact of the messed things that went on during that experiment.
The best character study is of the man who organised it all, Dr. Zimbardo. Not only is this a great performance from Billy Crudup, but the writing is superb and if independent films didn’t get ignored all the time, it’d be a sure thing for the Oscars. You see the transformation from when he is merely just a psychologist doing an experiment which will hopefully do good in the world until he fully becomes the warden of the prison and becomes part of the experiment himself. The best part of this transformation is that you don’t realise it’s happening. It’s just something gradual that goes on until the film decides to unveil it in some brilliant scenes.
That’s what this film does best, escalation. At first when the prison guards are making the prisoners do exercises and regular demeaning, you think that’s part of the experiment. After all, they were told to be true to their parts. And like Dr. Zimbardo’s transformation, you don’t really realise when they step over that line into being plain psychotic. You do think they are going too far but in the back of your mind you’re thinking, that’s just the part they are playing. It’s only towards the end when again some brilliantly done scenes show how far the prison guards have gone. There’s some supremely good storytelling in this film.
This is also a film that we can learn from. The film is pretty close to what happens, there’s some liberties to make sure the film goes at a decent pace and we don’t get bored, but the key finding is still true. Giving people who are normally good authority and power on the basis of a coin flip can turn them very bad. The film, especially in the concluding moments, makes it clear the guards are normal people and even that some of the guards weren’t exactly happy with how the prisoners were treated. But what it also shows is that they could become incredibly masochistic if given the chance, especially if they think the person they are badly treating is worse than them.
So The Stanford Prison Experiment isn’t just great as a film, but as a message for everyone. The film is a great watch even if you don’t want a message, it’s a dark tale of people doing things to other human beings they didn’t think they were capable of. But the message is so critical in an age where the police in America are shooting first and asking questions later and where people think they have the right to intimidate and insult people who have differing political opinions. It’s a film you should watch, not just for the great storytelling, but because you will learn something which may help you in the future.
Best Moment: Ooh, there’s so many. I’d say when Dr. Zimbardo realises he may have gone too far. Superbly done.
Worst Moment: I don’t think there is one.
5/5
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