The irony of a German movie about doctors who perform stressful experiments isn't lost on me. Come to think of it, Das Experiment touches on the very questions raised about the Nazis - were they just following orders? What would lead otherwise normal men to commit horrific crimes for some loose set of ideals? And really these questions are never answered within this movie. It's mostly an entertaining mess, but it does raise some interesting and frustrating questions.

The protagonist is one Fahd, an undercover reporter who has obviously stumbled onto a great feature story that will get him back in the upper ranks of the newspaper. As Prisoner Number 77, he comes in direct conflict with Berus, a guard who soon becomes sadistic. Moritz Bleitreu gives a commendable performance as Fahd. At the very least, he's always doing something interesting. But the movie might illicit a kind of blasé attitude.

Das Experiment frequently cuts away to what is a completely unnecessary subplot with Fahd's girlfriend (car crash victim? Sister?) as she sits in her house and touches herself. Yeah, I don't know quite what it means either. And just like these scenes, I'm not quite sure how to rate the movie as a whole. Sure, it's not a good movie, but it's pretty damn entertaining. It may meander and require very significant suspension of your disbelief, but it's stylishly done and quite fun. Das Experiment is like a late night Cinemax movie, but good. And German.

Movie Grade: C+

Video: 4 out of 5
Very nicely done. Clean, bright and well balanced transfer.
Widescreen anamorphic - 1.85:1