The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015)
-Watched at Landmark’s Mayan Theatre in Denver-
I am having a hard time figuring out what to write about this film, as it’s story is more compelling and in your face than the film itself. The film follows the infamous study that a psych professor at Stanford in the 70s set up with a group of college boys. He created a fake prison in a school hallway and wanted to see the effect of randomly assigning the boys as prisoners and guards. He didn’t realize how intensely the boys would take on these roles and had to stop the 14 day experiment after just 6 days.
The study is so profound and astonishing that the film falls away and is almost hard to see. Perhaps this means the directory Kyle Patrick Alvarez did a good job? I’m not so sure. When you are working with a well known story that is this interesting, I don’t think you have to try as hard to get the point and emotions across. I feel like I am thinking and writing in circles and am coming up with more questions than answers about what makes a good film. If you forget you are watching a film, does that make it good? Has it succeeded? If you can’t find things to nitpick, does that make it sound? Or is it just so run-of-the-mill like a subdivision where you can’t tell one house from the other?
Whatever it is, I had a great time watching this film and learned a lot. However, if you’re looking to watch some fine cinema, look elsewhere.