Experimenter – Die Stanley Milgram Story (2015)

Experimenter – Die Stanley Milgram Story: Directed by Michael Almereyda. With John Palladino, Anthony Edwards, Jim Gaffigan, Peter Sarsgaard. In 1961, famed social psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted a series of radical behavior experiments that tested ordinary humans’ willingness to obey authority.

“This movie is about Stanley Milgram, arguably one of the most important social psychologists in our field, and specifically about one of his most important experiment – his obedience to authority experiment. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe movie depicts to my knowledge accurately the setup, conduction, and results of the experiment and goes further, crafting an interesting and weighted portrayal of the man that Stanley Milgram was. The acting is low key, Peter Sarsgaard especially delivers a down to earth performance which shows that he rigorously prepared for the role. All supporting characters (e.g. Winona Ryder, Anton Yelchin) do a good job and no one distracts from the key issues raised by the experiment. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eCinematography is good, although nothing special. Occasionally there are creative moments in direction. When the 4rth wall is broken by Sarsgaard and he speaks directly to the audience, weird things happen in the background, making these moments very endearing and interesting.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere are no thrills or action in this movie, as well as no conventional drama. It is kind of a biopic with a twist, although I would say the biographic aspect is downplayed by the focus on this specific experiment. Many scientific issues are addressed on a side note (e.g. the ethical code of doing experiments, which triggered the proliferation of ethical committees for scientific research). u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI would recommend this movie to people who are interested in science, more specifically in psychology (but not exclusively), that do not need action, drama, or thrills and enjoy a well researched and crafted movie with good acting.”