Peneflix MOVIE REVIEWS BY PENEFLIX
Compelling, hypnotic simulated incarceration project initiated by Professor Philip Zimbardo in 1971 at Stanford University.
Billy Crudup (mesmerizing as Zimbardo) and the actual Professor were guests on “Charley Rose” recently; the interview piqued my interest, especially the manipulative, addictive powers of role-playing. Zimbardo, a philosophy professor, creates a scenario to test the psychology, mentality of prisoners and guards; after a myriad of smoke- imbued interviews eighteen Stanford students were chosen; they commit to two weeks, fifteen dollars a day; the experiment lasted six days.
Directed by Kyle Patrick Alvaraz, haunting, real performances by hardly recognizable actors; Stanford’s basement is transformed into a prison; both categories are given specific instructions; they are monitored at all times and allowed unlimited license in their interpretations; it was terrifying watching how the “guards” behavior escalated from haughty to maniacal within minutes; Michael Angarano, “John Wayne” is frightening as an amoral, abusive, lubricious guard; prisoners instantly emasculated by wearing “dresses”, forced push-ups, locked in a “hole” for disobedience. Zimbardo allowed the disintegration of the individual to go beyond the limits of experimentation; he did not include an “independent variable” that might have influenced the outcome of the untoward project. Crudup’s depiction is Svengali- like in its march towards moral turpitude.
Exorcised of their individuality, students both “guards”; and “prisoners” lose all concept of time; even worse, the spirits of these brilliant Stanford boys, are sabotaged, mangled and stripped of dignity.
Illusive, the results have kept Zimbardo on the “talk” circuit for years; is evil, brutality, determined by man’s disposition or informed by the institution? “The Stanford Prison Experiment” haunts with an abundance of empirical suppositions, but sparse definitive answers.
THREE STARS!!!
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