Das Experiment is a film which is based on the famous Stanford University experiments in the 1970's where random men were selected to act as prison officers and as inmates. As the experiment continued and the men became immersed in their roles, their behaviour changed and they became more outrageous in their actions. The real experiment never went to the extremes of the Moritz Bleibtreu starring film, but the behavioural changes did.

It's quite a shocking film, moreso because it is based on fact. Bleibtreu is superb in the role as he is in Run Lola Run and Elementarteilchen (Atomised) (review), and soon to be seen in Paul Schrader's The Walker. I'd recommend seeing the film now, before the US remake comes along.

According to Time Out the film will be written and directed by the creator of Prison Break, Paul Scheuring. Call me crazy, but can you see the execs making the simple connection in their heads? "Oh this film's about Prisons, why not get that Prison Break guy involved? The show's doing well because we haven't thrown it around the US schedules, so..."

I find Prison Break tedious and altogether daft, yet whatever I think of the film the original German version is superb and there's absolutely no need to remake it, just get used to watching a film with subtitles!

So my recommendation is to see the original as soon as possible, and if you haven't seen the other Bleibtreu films I've mentioned, slot them on your list too.