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October 9 & 10, 2015

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Rated R
122 minutes

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The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015)

October 9, 2015 at 8:00 pm in 26-100
October 10, 2015 at 8:00 pm in 26-100

Kyle Patrick Alvarez's drama The Stanford Prison Experiment is based on real events. Dr. Philip Zimbardo (Billy Cruddup) arranges for 24 volunteers to be either guards or inmates a makeshift prison system so that he can observe how their behavior changes. Eventually those playing guards become abusive and dictatorial, while the inmates band together to survive the harsh conditions. What the Stanford professor doesn't expect is that he and the people running the experiment are also being transformed by taking part in it. The Stanford Prison Experiment screened at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. [www.allmovie.com]

That this was a controversial experiment, whose findings have been the subject of debate ever since, comes as no surprise. But history, before and since, suggests that it encapsulates an essential truth.
      -- Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle. Read this review.