This true life experiment held in Stanford in the 70s is quite a disturbing movie. A psychology professor gets students to pretend to be guards and prisoners for a couple of weeks but things get out of control with sadistic abuse on the guards part. It's not a pleasant watch but it makes one think about the whole system of incarceration and the effect on human nature. It's relevant because of the current abuses in prisons both domestic and in the Middle East.
Is it human nature to abuse when in power? Why did normal people become abusers when given the opportunity? It's a different look at guards and prisoners - because these were normal people not criminals or enemy combatants.
The acting is good. Billy Crudup is the Stanford professor who seems to allow things to go too far. He is portrayed as rather cruel and pig headed.
Watch it but be warned it's pretty unpleasant.
Is it human nature to abuse when in power? Why did normal people become abusers when given the opportunity? It's a different look at guards and prisoners - because these were normal people not criminals or enemy combatants.
The acting is good. Billy Crudup is the Stanford professor who seems to allow things to go too far. He is portrayed as rather cruel and pig headed.
Watch it but be warned it's pretty unpleasant.