Welcome back to Movie Recaps.
Today I will show you a drama, thriller film from 2010, titled The Experiment.
Spoilers ahead!
Watch out and take care.
While working In a retirement home, Travis receives horrible news: he's been laid off
because of budget cuts.
The next day, he attends an anti-war protest with a friend, who reminds him of all the
test subject jobs he would take in college to earn some money.
A commotion suddenly takes over the protest when a soldier jumps to beat up the protesters,
pushing to the ground a beautiful woman that Travis has been watching.
Travis jumps in and pulls the soldier back, threatening him with his fist but not actually
daring to punch him.
The police take the soldier away and Travis checks on Bay, inviting her to have a drink
with him after the protest is over.
At the bar, they share their activism experience before Bay confesses this is her last protest
because she'll be moving to India, and invites Travis to do the same.
It's impossible for him to do so without money, but he does ask to see her again before she
leaves.
Later, Travis checks the classifieds and finds an ad requesting people for a behavioral experiment
that will pay one thousand a day for two weeks and decides it can't hurt to try.
The next day, he goes to the first meeting where he befriends and chitchats with two
other volunteers: Michael and Benjy.
The person in charge is Dr. Archaleta, who makes them fill out a form before explaining
what it's all about.
They'll be testing the conditions of life inside a state penitentiary, and the only
requirement is that nobody has served any time.
The participants will be safe at all times but they must remember that some of the subjects
will be deprived of their civil rights.
Afterward, the doctor runs some tests to decide who will be the twenty-six chosen ones, including
a recorded interview with morally-charged questions.
Travis replies he doesn't have a history of incarceration or violence, and his interest
in religion is a simple "no".
He bases his ethical decisions on what he feels.
Michael tells them about his time as a boy scout and in the drill team, also various
church groups because he's devoted.
Another volunteer called Chase says he's lived his life based on three things: women, pot,
and smiles.
After the interview is over, the volunteers are taken to a sealed room where they're shown
a video of juxtaposed images including cute things like children and animals and more
violent things like clips from the news.
Sometime later, Travis goes to see Bay to spend their last time together.
As she kisses his soft knuckles, she tells him she knows he wouldn't have hit the angry
soldier at the protest.
They also talk about India, and how Travis will find her there when the experiment is
done.
Travis is chosen for the final group, and when the day comes, a bus picks up all the
chosen volunteers, which include the new friends Travis made during the meeting.
On their way to the prison, they all think about their loved ones and the answers they
gave about them during the experiment.
Benjy remembers a barista from his favorite café and answers in the interview that women
are everything on God's green Earth.
Chase thinks of a random fling he wasn't exactly kind to, Michael thinks of his extremely controlling
mother, and Travis thinks of the moment Bay gave him her bracelet.
When they arrive at the prison, the bus driver doesn't allow them to take their bags, which
leaves Benjy worried.
On day one, Dr. Archaleta gives them a talk and the last chance to leave.
He swears that violence isn't allowed, and if they see any through the cameras, the experiment
will be terminated.
Michael, Chase, Bosche, Helweg and two more volunteers are chosen as the six guards, while
the other twenty will be prisoners.
Guards must not allow anything from the outside world to come or go from the cell block, and
there are five rules that the prisoners must follow at all times.
They must eat three meals a day and all food must be consumed, there will be thirty minutes
of rec daily, they are only allowed in prisoner-designated areas, they can only speak when spoken to,
and they can't touch the guards under any circumstances.
Those that break the rules must be punished commensurately.
If any person leaves, nobody gets paid.
If a prisoner does break the rules, the guards have thirty minutes to choose disciplinary
action - if they fail to do that, a red light will be turned on, the experiment ends and
there won't be any payment.
After the doctor leaves, the guards prepare the prisoners like a real prison, washing
them all with a hose.
Bosche shows pity for having to put them through this, but Chase is already having fun calling
them names and humiliating a volunteer called Oscar.
Afterward, prisoners are put in a line while the guards read the rules: from now on, inmates
will be addressed only by their numbers.
Travis ends up in a cell with Benjy, who is a graphic novel artist, and Nix, a man who
insists to be referred to by his number.
A flashback of the interview shows why some of the volunteers have joined the experiment.
Nix and another man simply mention the cash, Michael is doing it for his mother because
she broke her hip and he needs to pay rent, Chase wants to impress women with the money,
and Travis answers he wants to escape.
During rec time, the prisoners are playing basketball and one of them accidentally hits
Bosche in the face with the ball.
The guards take him away to look at his wound, and while Bosche insists it's fine because
it was an accident, Chase and Helweg insist this has broken rule five.
Not wanting to risk the light turning on and losing the money, they all agree to punish
the prisoners in a way that matches something supposedly accidental.
So the man that threw the ball is asked to do ten push-ups, which he refuses to do because
it was an accident.
In response, Chase makes everyone do the push-ups, and Nix immediately jumps into it, so the
others have no choice but to follow his example.
Michael is amazed by such a response and begins to enjoy the taste of power, especially when
the thirty minutes pass and the light doesn't turn on, which means they did the right thing.
On day two, the prisoners are served a classic horrible prison lunch.
Nix finishes it all before leaving, but the rest refuse to eat the weird bean goo, so
Helweg and Chase remind them that would break a rule.
Travis responds by dropping his food on Helweg's hands, so the guards try to punish them with
push-ups again, but the prisoners ignore them and everybody starts throwing all their food
and trays at Helweg.
Afterward, the guards discuss what happened: Chase is frustrated because the only reason
the prisoners did that is that they know the guards can't beat them up.
Michael suddenly remembers the time he was accepted into a fraternity, which had similar
rules, and arrives at the conclusion that to break the prisoners' wills they have to
humiliate them.
As punishment, they decide to enter every cell and empty a bunch of fire extinguishers
on the prisoners, Michael also drags Travis out and handcuffs him to the cell door so
he'll have to sleep on the floor for being the instigator.
Afterward, when Michael goes to the bathroom to wash out, he discovers his body enjoyed
having power a little too much.
In the middle of the night, Benjy asks for help: he's having heat flashes because his
blood sugar is low, but the guards just tell him to go back to bed.
On day three, Michael reminds everyone to play by the rules, but he gets angry when
he notices Benjy hasn't left the bed because he isn't feeling well.
The guards check the file he filled out saying he's diabetic but he regulates it with diet
- he had brought some candy bars with him, but they didn't let him keep the bag when
they arrived.
The guards force him to leave the bed anyway, and Travis tries to defend his friend, causing
Michael to get angrier and angrier when nothing he says manages to make Travis obey.
The anger gets Michael to take out his police baton, but Travis reminds him that violence
would make them lose the money.
The guards cut in to stop Michael from doing anything stupid and send all the prisoners
back to their cells.
Nix and Travis have a little talk about the intentions behind the experiment, and Nix
thinks they are throwing animals in a cage to see who becomes a lion and who survives.
Travis doesn't agree because he thinks humans are higher on the evolutionary tree and confesses
he knows Nix lied on his application and had been to prison before, a conclusion he reached
when he noticed his Aryan tattoo.
Nix makes him promise not to tell anyone and reminds him he should behave not to get into
trouble, because these guys behave just like regular guards.
This is why Nix always follows the rules without hesitation, he just wants his cash.
Back in the office, the guards are having a chat too.
Chase thinks the prisoners will revolt at any moment, and while Bosche doesn't agree
because it would cost them the money, Michael does think they should do something to scare
them into submission.
The guards take Travis out of his cell and tie him to a chair to shave his head while
a drinking Michael gives him a speech about weakening the leader.
Then, Michael asks him if there will be respect from now on, but Travis just insults him.
Furious, Michael kicks the chair to make him fall, then proceeds to urinate on him, an
action some guards like Bosche disagree with but others decide to join.
Because the light doesn't turn on, the guards assume their punishment has been approved.
However, Bosche is upset, and he tells his fellow guards that if something like this
happens again, he'll leave the experiment, not caring if it costs everyone the money.
After Travis returns to his cell, he watches Michael from afar and remembers the interview
again.
When asked what he would do if a loved one was severely harmed and the law fails to prosecute,
he responded he didn't think in terms of justice, because justice was what starts wars based
on an eye for an eye philosophy.
On day four, Travis hides some bread in his pockets during lunch that later he takes to
Benjy, who is still sick in bed.
Benjy admits he needs insulin and he lied on his application to be accepted, thinking
he could control it with food and tough it out.
Travis wants to tell the guards or the scientists, but Benjy refuses, saying he needs to do this
to stop feeling like a fraud.
Later at night, Chase tries to get busy with his hand, but Helweg can hear him and asks
him not to do it in the room.
Meanwhile, Bosche comes by the cells to check on Benjy, who is still unwell.
Travis tells him he'll pay him part of his own money if he brings over Benjy's insulin,
and Bosche at first refuses.
But eventually, he gives in for free, leaving to search for the bags they arrived with.
Back to Chase, he's left the room too to get Oscar out of his cell and take him to an abandoned
room that has no cameras in it.
There, he tries to force Oscar onto his knees and make him use his mouth, but before they
can go far, Michael finds them and demands an explanation.
Chase lies and says Oscar had some intel on Travis that he didn't want to share in front
of everyone, but the conversation gets interrupted again, this time by Helweg.
He takes all the guards back to the office to show them what he's found on the cameras:
it's Bosche, going through the bags.
They go after him and after finding the insulin in his pocket, Michael gets him to confess
who asked for it by promising forgiveness.
Afterward, Michael takes the insulin to Benjy, but also makes Helweg take Travis to the bathroom.
There, while shaving his own head, Michael says he isn't a monster, but Travis has broken
the rules, and if the experiment hasn't been interrupted is because the scientists approve
of his actions and Benjy has always been safe.
Travis thinks Michael should use his prize money to check into a mental facility, and
a furious Michael decides on the next punishment: Helweg shoves Travis' head in the toilet until
he finally says aloud he's just a prisoner.
At first, Travis keeps on insulting them, but eventually his spirit breaks and does
as he's told.
Once he's sent back to his cell, he breaks down and cries.
Later in the middle of the night, the guards take Bosche off the bed and beat him up as
punishment in that abandoned room with no cameras.
On day five, Benjy is feeling better and joining the others in the daily routine, but Michael
has another surprise for them: Bosche will become a prisoner for breaking the rules.
Annoyed by Michael's condescending speech, Travis takes off his uniform shirt and while
his fellow prisoners follow his lead, he climbs a cell door to ask the camera to open the
gates.
Michael drags him down and presses him to the floor with his baton on Travis' neck,
so Benjy tries to help by hitting Michael on the back of his head.
Michael responds by hitting him hard with his baton, which leaves Benjy twitching and
bleeding on the floor.
As punishment, Michael orders the guards to divide the prisoners up and isolate them so
they can't communicate.
Travis gets the worst of it when they lock him inside an old boiler pipe for the night,
and even in that pipe there's a camera.
One of the guards isn't very happy with this mess and wants to leave, calling Michael crazy,
but once again, Michael reminds me no red light means they're behaving correctly, so
nobody is leaving.
On day six, Chase visits Oscar in the abandoned room to hit him and finish what they started
the other day.
Meanwhile, Travis is starting to lose his mind, but he gets an idea when he remembers
he still has his bracelet.
He takes it off and uses it to open the pipe door, hearing Oscar's cries for help as soon
as he comes out.
Travis rushes to save him, hitting Chase from behind and grabbing him while Oscar knocks
him unconscious with his own handcuffs.
Then they use Chase's keys to free all the prisoners: Nix is finally tired of playing
nice, but it's too late for Benjy: he's died from his injuries.
The prisoners are furious and ready to fight.
As they begin attacking the office door to get it open, Michael grabs a knife to defend
himself, but the other guards think he's crazy since they are clearly outnumbered.
They run away and Michael follows them, trying to convince them to stay behind and fight
to recover power, but they can't leave the building because they can't open the gates
from inside.
The prisoners catch up with them and begin beating the guards up, with Travis calling
dibs on Michael.
When Michael tries to use the knife, Travis catches it with his hand and, after pushing
Nix out of the way, he begins beating up Michael as well.
The fight suddenly ends when the red lights finally flash and the gates are opened, allowing
everyone to get out.
Hours later, the bus comes to pick them up, and everyone returns home with a hefty cheque
in hand and wearing the same clothes they arrived in as if nothing happened.
Nix asks Travis if he still thinks humans are higher in the chain of evolution, to which
Travis replies yes, because humans are capable of doing something about it.
Many days later, the experiment appears on the news.
Dr. Archaleta is being tried for manslaughter in Benjy's death, and most of the prisoners
agree to testify against him.
Travis travels to India and meets with Bay, who notices his knuckles are not soft anymore.