I had never heard the story of “The Stanford Prison Experiment” before last week. It is the name of a new movie based on a true event that happened in 1971.

Learn about the experiment by clicking here!

Stanford psychology professor Philip Zimbardo wanted to see what would happen when normal people were put into a mock prison environment for two weeks. He solicited 24 volunteers that were paid $15 per day. Based on a simple coin flip, some would have the job as correctional officers. The others would be the inmates.

The correctional officers would work eight hour shifts and then, be allowed to return to their normal lives. The prisoners spent the entire time in a makeshift prison without any windows in the basement of Stanford University.

Without giving away any plot spoilers, I found the movie fascinating to watch. Some of the prison guards took their role to the extreme while exerting authority on the prisoners. Normal people became power hungry. Some of the prisoners had a difficult time adapting to their environment. Without windows or clocks they lost their sense of time.

It made me wonder if the same thing would have happened if the coin flip reversed their roles. Or, if I would react in the same way the guards and prisoners did. There was also a side story on how the experiment affected Professor Zimbardo and his assistants as it was happening.

“The Stanford Prison Experiment” was intense and unnerving at times. Like many movies fail to do, it will make you think. You will question your own values and how they might change if you were put under extraordinary circumstances. The cast, made up of mostly unrecognizable actors made it authentic.

The movie is no longer showing at The Flicks, but is available on DirecTV on demand for $7.99. My final verdict: Eight popcorns out of ten.