Das Experiment is a German film directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel. It was released as The Experiment in the United States. The film was inspired by the events of the Stanford prison experiment in the US. It is based on the novel Black Box by Mario Giordano.

Plot

Tarek Fahd (Moritz Bleibtreu) participates with 19 other candidates in a prison simulation experiment for two weeks. The candidates are selected by a computer to be either prisoner or guard. The experiment begins smoothly, but quickly deteriorates as the guards develop authoritarian tendencies. Prof. Klaus Thon (Edgar Selge), perceiving the deterioration as standard psychological reactions, refuses to end the experiment, despite the protests of his assistant, Dr. Jutta Grimm (Andrea Sawatzki). As time progresses, the guards go to great lengths to conceal their actions and keep the experiment running, and the prisoners resist as best they can.