The eXperiment

Behavior modification movies and books have always fascinated me. People will do a lot of things if they think that authority gives them the ok. This movie examines how that would work.

A group of financially needy men are recruited for an experiment. About 1/4 of them are to play prison guards while the other 3/4 will be inmates. They will be locked away from the outside world for 2 weeks. At the end of that time they will each get $14,000. No violence is supposed to be allowed but rule breaking is not to be tolerated either. Supposedly they are being watched at all times and any violence will cause a red light to come on and end the experiment.

The leader of the guards is played by Forest Whittaker, a bible reading man who is gentle and firm (on the outside) while the leader of the inmates is played by Adrien Brody-an antiwar pacifist (on the outside).

Needless to say the situation inside causes both men to behave in ways of which they'd be ashamed otherwise. Whittaker's role is particularly meaty and his lazy eye comes in pretty handy in helping his character to look extremely disturbed as his sadistic and bossy personality elements come to the forefront.

Not a great movie as it is a little too predictable and things go downhill a bit too fast but worthwhile.

"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives."
Winter is Coming

Now this is the Law of the Jungle—as old and as true as the sky; And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, the Law runneth forward and back; For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.