Experimenter (2015)

Yale University, 1961. Stanley Milgram designs a psychology experiment that still resonates to this day, in which people think they’re delivering painful electric shocks to an affable stranger strapped into a chair in another room. Despite his pleads for mercy, the majority of subjects don’t stop the experiment, administering what they think is a near-fatal electric shock, simply because they’ve been told to do so. With Nazi Adolf Eichmann’s trial airing in living rooms across America, Milgram strikes a nerve in popular culture and the scientific community with his exploration into people’s tendency to comply with authority. Celebrated in some circles, he is also accused of being a deceptive, manipulative monster, but his wife Sasha stands by him through it all.

Genres: Drama, History

What to watch after Experimenter

• A Scanner Darkly (2006) — Same feel: thought-provoking, philosophical
• Brainstorm (1983) — Same feel: thought-provoking, complex
• Kinsey (2004) — Same feel: thought-provoking, philosophical
• A Dangerous Method (2011) — Same feel: thought-provoking, complex
• Altered States (1980) — Same subject: experiment, psychology
• Proof (2005) — Same feel: thought-provoking, complex