I caught a free sneak preview of Das Experiment last night. It stars Moritz Bleibtreu of Run Lola Run fame (it took some serious self-discipline to not yell out “Maaannniiiiii!!!!!” when he appeared on the screen) and the story deals with a bunch of ordinary German men involved in a psychological prison experiment in which half the men are designated prisoners and half are designated guards. I’m sure I’m not giving anything away by divulging that shit goes horribly wrong, and I did raise an eyebrow at the haste with which said shit went wrong until I read up on the Stanford Prison Experiment, upon which the film was loosely based and which is a fascinating story in its own right. The film wasn’t quite as heavy-handed with its artistic license as one might expect, so the realism heightened the tension significantly. Good cinema.