Made in 2001, the german movie directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel is based on the infamous "Stanford Prison Experiment" conducted in 1971, as you can see in Quiet Rage: The Documentary.
An experiment that started out to be the first study about human behaviour within the limitations imposed to prisoners. Creating an environment, with the help of volunteers, of a real prison.
Although it is a fictioned story based on what really happened in Stanford with the experiment lead by Prof. Zimbardo, the movie is about the human attitudes that took the experiment to an end after six days.
At first we see that it all begins as a game for everyone but soon the impulses of leadership and the fear of humilitation start out to be the element of disorder and a cataliser for the events that rapidilly take place within the improvised installations.
Similar to what happened in Stanford Prison the volunteers were divided into guards and prisoners establishing already a difference even if that choice was as random as it could, after 36 hours the first riot happens out of the prisoner 77 setting out that he he's only inside a game and for that he wants to be treated with respect.
This leads to a rage from the guards that develop a animosity with that prisoner specially, and for that start a silent revenge and the necessity to be respected by those who are prisoners starts to overcome the fact that they're only within a "laboratory experiment".
The movie exponentiates the consequences of Stanford Prison to a so that it can be clear the effects that such experiment can have in human beings that are exposed to stress and pressure, and above all, lack of freedom.
One the main aspects of the movie is that some of the men playing "the prisoners" soon started to panic and the income they're getting from that experience were no longer important, even that that was the main reason for them to have joined the experience in the first place.
The identity loss was one of the important factors in the changing of the behavior, for the prisoners to be humiliated as such, and for the guards to gain a respect that they did not had in their regular life.
Imprisionment is all about the things you loose, about the exterior, about getting out of that place no matter what.
An experiment that started out to be the first study about human behaviour within the limitations imposed to prisoners. Creating an environment, with the help of volunteers, of a real prison.
Although it is a fictioned story based on what really happened in Stanford with the experiment lead by Prof. Zimbardo, the movie is about the human attitudes that took the experiment to an end after six days.
At first we see that it all begins as a game for everyone but soon the impulses of leadership and the fear of humilitation start out to be the element of disorder and a cataliser for the events that rapidilly take place within the improvised installations.
Similar to what happened in Stanford Prison the volunteers were divided into guards and prisoners establishing already a difference even if that choice was as random as it could, after 36 hours the first riot happens out of the prisoner 77 setting out that he he's only inside a game and for that he wants to be treated with respect.
This leads to a rage from the guards that develop a animosity with that prisoner specially, and for that start a silent revenge and the necessity to be respected by those who are prisoners starts to overcome the fact that they're only within a "laboratory experiment".
The movie exponentiates the consequences of Stanford Prison to a so that it can be clear the effects that such experiment can have in human beings that are exposed to stress and pressure, and above all, lack of freedom.
One the main aspects of the movie is that some of the men playing "the prisoners" soon started to panic and the income they're getting from that experience were no longer important, even that that was the main reason for them to have joined the experience in the first place.
The identity loss was one of the important factors in the changing of the behavior, for the prisoners to be humiliated as such, and for the guards to gain a respect that they did not had in their regular life.
Imprisionment is all about the things you loose, about the exterior, about getting out of that place no matter what.
