Lesser Known Movies you must watch - 26

The Experiment

Cast: Adrian Broody (The Pianist), Forest Whitaker (The last king of Scotland), Maggie Grace, Fisher Stevens

(90 Mins running time , easily available on you-tube as well)

There is an advantage if you have done regular MBA, the case studies that you read or go through to understand the perspective in different fields of Management i.e. Marketing, Human Resource, Organizational Behavior etc. I came across a concept one of my OB class which led to me watching this movie. The concept is based upon an experiment that was conducted by Professor Zimbardo in Standford Prison with a research group of Standford university in 1971. This was conducted to understand the psychological effect of perceived power if given to anyone.

The movie is loosely based on the same experiment (hence the name) and is actually a remake of German film (Das Experiment). Movie begins with a group of volunteers arriving for a Phycological study that will be conducted on them where these groups will be divided into two subgroups of prison guards and criminals i.e. inmates. Travis (Brody) who is an anti-war protestor becomes one of the inmates and Michael Barris (Whittaker) who still lives with his mother who is dominating becomes one of the guards. Basic rules of the prison are aligned for them where they will get 3 meals a day, 30 minutes of recreation and other rules like staying within your cell or using designated areas. The experiment is being told to go on for 15 days and if they are able to manage to the same they will be given 14000 USD.

Now what do you think should happen? Task is pretty simple right, just act as per your roles and responsibilities and make the easy money. But things are never simple as they seems. Also, when you are given some power , even if you don’t want to use it , you will use it as its yours whereas on the other-hand when you are powerless , even if you are the strongest person you will find yourself unable to offer any help when needed. Just watch the movie and realize if human beings really are the higher in the chain of evolution than monkeys. Do share and leave your comments

SM Movie Geeks