History Film / DasExperiment

* ReverseMole: One of the prisoners (#38) is actually an agent for the German Federal Police, who have been investigating Dr. Thon for possible human rights abuses.

* RealityEnsues: What many people tend to ignore is that blanks can be downright lethal if the calibre is big enough, or if fired into a sensible part of the head. The head scientist is almost killed by a blank accidentally shot near his face, and shortly after Dora uses the same gun to wound a guard in the belly when he comes at her.

* KnightTemplar: Berus, and by extension, almost all the other guards, feel that any abuse of the prisoners is justified so long as it will maintain order.

* KnightTemplar: Berus, and by extenstion, all the other guards.

* ElvisImpersonator: Eckert is also this.

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Berus, the guard who spearheads the abuse of the prisoners, [[EvenEvilHasStandards nevertheless seems to object to Eckert lecherously forcing the female scientist to strip herself in front of him]] and hands over her a uniform to join the rest of the prisoners. He's occupied elsewhere when the actual rape attempt happens, however.

* TokenEvilTeammate: Meanwhile, [[FatBastard Eckert]] is clearly the ''worst'' among the guards. Having joined the experiment entirely for fun, [[EstablishingCharacterMoment he's introduced]] by lecherously staring at Dr. Grimm's legs. Eckert proves to be the most sadistic and depraved guard in the entire team, delighting in his newfound power the most. Unlike the [[PunchClockVillain other guards]], [[KnightTemplar who are more or less completely deluded and believe that they're doing the right thing]], Eckert is TheHedonist only cares about personal amusement, finally crossing MoralEventHorizon when he tries to [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rape Dr. Grimm]]. [[KickTheSonOfABitch Fittingly]], [[AssholeVictim he's the one guard]] [[KarmicDeath that bites the dust at the end of the film]].

* GoingForTheBigScoop: In the nutshell, the experiment goes pear-shaped because Tarek Fahd, the newspaper spook looking for a good story, [[TheGadfly would continuously]] [[BullyingTheDragon piss off the guards]] ([[OnlyInItForTheMoney who at point just wanted to get paid]]) until they've had it with him. [[FromBadToWorse And it only went downhill from there...]]

** TokenEvilTeammate: Meanwhile, [[FatBastard Eckert]] is clearly the ''worst'' among the guards. Having joined the experiment for entirely for fun, [[EstablishingCharacterMoment he's introduced]] by lecherously staring at Dr. Grimm's legs, Eckert proves to be the most sadistic and depraved guard in the entire team, delighting in his newfound power the most. Unlike the [[PunchClockVillain other guards]], [[KnightTemplar who are more or less completely deluded and believe that they're doing the right thing]], Eckert is TheHedonist only cares about personal amusement, finally crossing MoralEventHorizon when he tries to [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rape Dr. Grimm]]. [[KickTheSonOfABitch Fittingly]], [[AssholeVictim he's the one guard]] [[KarmicDeath that bites the dust at the end of the film]].

* SoundtrackDissonance: Before attempting to rape the female scientist, Eckert plays Marianne & Michael's Volkstümliche Musik song ''Wann Fangt Denn Endlich D'Musi An'' on the speakers of the prison to cover up the noise. It gets worse when the jolly song keeps going during the useless attempts at reviving #82.

** TokenEvilTeammate: Meanwhile, [[FatBastard Eckert]] is clearly the ''worst'' among the guards. Having joined the experiment for entirely for fun, [[EstablishingCharacterMoment he's introduced]] by lecherously staring at Dr. Grimm's legs, Eckert proves to be the most sadistic and depraved guard in the entire team, delighting in his newfound power the most. Unlike the [[PunchClockVillain other guards]], [[KnightTemplar who are more or less completely deluded and believe that they're doing the right thing]], Eckert is TheHedonist only cares about personal amusement, finally crossing MoralEventHorizon when he tries to [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rape the female scientist]]. [[KickTheSonOfABitch Fittingly]], [[AssholeVictim he's the one guard]] [[KarmicDeath that bites the dust at the end of the film]].
* UnstoppableRage: The female scientist [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown kicking a handcuffed Eckert]] for everything he did to her, Bosh when he bashes his head with a fire extinguisher, and #38 when he begins to strangle Berus, #77 stops him in time [[MoralEventHorizon before he regrets it]].

* GoingForTheBigScoop: In the nutshell, the experiment goes pear-shaped because Tarek Fahd, the newspaper spook looking for a good story, [[TheGadfly would continuously]] [[BullyingTheDragon piss off the guards]] ([[OnlyInItForMoney who at point just wanted to get paid]]) until they've had it with him. [[FromBadToWorse And it only went downhill from there...]]

** TokenEvilTeammate: Meanwhile, [[FatBastard Eckert]] is clearly the ''worst'' among the guards. Having joined the experiment for entirely for fun, [[EstablishingCharacterMoment he's introduced]] by lecherously staring at Dr. Grimm's legs, Eckert proves to the most sadistic and depraved guard in the entire team, delighting in his newfound power the most. Unlike the [[PunchClockVillain other guards]], [[KnightTemplar who are more or less completely deluded and believe that they're doing the right thing]], Eckert is TheHedonist only cares about personal amusement, finally crossing MoralEventHorizon when he tries to [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rape the female scientist]]. [[KickTheSonOfABitch Fittingly]], [[AssholeVictim he's the one guard]] [[KarmicDeath that bites the dust at the end of the film]].

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Berus, the guard who spearheads the abuse of the prisoners, [[EvenEvilHasStandarts nevertheless seems to object to Eckert lecherously forcing the female scientist to strip herself in front of him]] and hands over her a uniform to join the rest of the prisoners. He's occupied elsewhere when the actual rape attempt happens, however.

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Berus, the guard who spearheads the abuse of the prisoners, nevertheless seems to object to Eckert lecherously forcing the female scientist to strip herself in front of him and hands over her a uniform to join the rest of the prisoners. He's occupied elsewhere when the actual rape attempt happens, however.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Upon standing up for #77 after he's locked in the ''black box'', Prisoner #82 gets horribly beaten up by the Guards, who then [[BoundandGagged strap him down to a chair and tape his mouth]], unintentionally suffocating him to death when his bloody nose later dries up. We get to see the poor guy die slowly as his suffocated breathes get weaker and weaker.

* RecklessGunUsage: Even tough it's a blank, Eckert could've potentially [[BoomHeadshot blown the head scientist's brains out]] for real if it wasn't.

* UnstoppableRage: The female scientist [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown kicking a handcuffed Eckert]] for everything he did to her, Berus when he bashes his head with a fire extinguisher, and #38 when he begins to strangle Berus, #77 stops him in time [[MoralEventHorizon before he regrets it]].

* AttemptedRape: One of the guards tries to rape the female scientist after previously having forced her to strip in front of him. He is interrupted when Prisoner #77 escapes from the PunishmentBox.

* DrunkWithPower: Deconstructed, in that it's shown that both the Guards and the Prisoners ultimately contribute to the escalation. At first the Guards limit themselves to minor abuses such as forcing a man with lactose intolerance to drink his required dosage of milk, but when the prisoners start to riot (largely because of prodding from Prisoner #77, who's a plant from a newspaper looking for a good story) they start resorting to increasingly violent methods to keep control over them. By the end the Guards are beating the Prisoners into comas, keep the junior scientists who are supposed to be monitoring the experiment captive so they can't interfere, and one of them even tries to rape a woman from the staff.

* ANaziByAnyOtherName: The film emphasizes the Nazi-like aspects of the guards' behavior. In case the point isn't obvious enough, their leader actually resembles a blond Hitler. At one point, one of the prisoners even calls him a Nazi. The experiment itself, along with the Milgram Obedience Experiment, were originally devised as an attempt to understand what would drive otherwise good people to commit the atrocities that the Nazis perpetrated during World War II.

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: The main guard who spearheads the abuse of the prisoners nevertheless seems to object to one of his associates lecherously forcing the female scientist to strip herself in front of him and orders him to put clothes on her and place her with the rest of the prisoners. He's occupied elsewhere when the actual rape attempt happens, however.
* ShamefulStrip: A female scientist who's being held captive by the guards is forced to strip down by a lecherous guard, who then comments on her... grooming habits. His companion objects when he walks in on this, and gives her some clothes to cover herself up.
* SoundtrackDissonance: Before attempting to rape the female scientist, the guard plays Marianne & Michael's jolly Volkstümliche Musik song ''Wann Fangt Denn Endlich D'Musi An'' on the speakers of the prison to cover up the noise.