Is a crusading French documentary maker striking a blow at the abusive
powers of television — or simply taking reality TV to a new low of
cynicism and bad taste? That’s the question viewers across France are
asking in light of Christophe Nick’s new film, The Game of Death, which airs on French television on Wednesday night. The documentary has generated a massive amount of attention — and naturally, courted controversy — because of the
dilemma that the film’s contestants face on a fake game show: Will they allow
themselves to be cajoled into delivering near lethal electrical charges to
fellow players, or follow their better instincts and refuse?
The Game of Death is an adaptation of an infamous experiment conducted by
a team led by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram in the 1960s. In
order to test people’s obedience to authority figures, the scientists
demanded that subjects administer increasingly strong electric shocks to
other participants if they answered questions incorrectly. The people
delivering the shocks, however, didn’t know that the charges were fake — the volunteers on the other end of the room were actors pretending to suffer
agonizing pain. The point was to see how many people would continue
following orders to mete out torture.
