Reply To: The Experiment Movie Review in Film Criticism Course

This movie (The Experiment) was difficult for me to watch. I had to look away from the screen a few times. The film is based on a real prison experiment conducted in 1971 to examine whether people would conform to the social roles of a prison guard and prisoner, much like the saying “the strong eat the weak.” I found myself wanting to judge the behavior of the prison guards and blame them for the conflicts, brutality, and barbarism in the mock experiment. However, I realized that any one of us in their shoes would probably have acted the same way. It’s human nature and violence instinct sometimes according to human history seems unavoidable.