Experimenter: The Stanley Milgram Story

Filmmaker Michael Almereyda dramatizes the career of maverick social psychologist/author Stanley Milgram. A son of Holocaust refugees with a fixation on blind obedience and its pathologies, Milgram (Peter Sarsgaard) here gains fame for his 1961 experiments at Yale in which he proves—against predictions by the smug psychological establishment—that ordinary Americans would deliver potentially lethal electrical shocks to distressed strangers (actually a Milgram cohort, play-acting pain) if ordered to do so by an authority figure. Milgram went on to encore with other sneaky and manipulative behavioral tests in mass-conformity. Sarsgaard as Milgram continually addresses the camera, as though in a lecture hall, while Almereyda toys with audience perceptions, using crude rear-projection, obvious stage makeup, and odd walk-ons (Abe Lincoln, an elephant in a room, etc.). The result is an interesting if also rather offbeat analysis of both the researcher and the troubling implications of his work. And this is your chance to see Kellan Lutz playing William Shatner playing Stanley Milgram, in a recreation of a 1970s TV movie that allegedly caused friction in Milgram's marriage (Winona Ryder costars as the scientist's wife). Highly recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a “making-of” featurette (6 min.), an “Understanding Stanley Milgram” interview with the subject's brother Joel Milgram (6 min.), a production design segment (5 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a fine bio-pic.] (C. Cassady)