The Stanford Prison Experiment (Kyle Patrick Álvarez)

[Grouchy]

[Grouchy]

It's unavoidable to make a comparison when you have two very different movies based on the same facts, and so I spent much of this drawing paralells with my hazy memories of the German film The Experiment. This one is markedly different in that it's more clearly a drama about psychology and less an excuse to make a compelling thriller. In fact there are very few thriller aspects in Stanford, and most of the particulars of the characters and locations appear to be based on fact. Billy Crudup's performance is worth pointing out - I had to wait for his name on the credits since he was inmensely familiar but the name didn't come up while I was watching. Ezra Miller also makes for a compelling protagonist until he's let out of the experiment.

I don't know if it's better than The Experiment but it's certainly a more ambitious film.