The Belko Experiment and Prisoner’s Dilemma
When faced with the extreme measures of life or death, it is not certain what one would do. The Belko Experiment is a film that juggles morality, fear, and dilemma until the last man standing. Similar to the Stanford Prison Experiment in 1971, the film pushes the human psyche to the limit and displays how far people could go when faced with power dynamics, specifically an authority and subordinate figure.
Essentially the film breaks down to this: 80 people unwillingly battle to murder their coworkers as they are commanded by an unknown figure of authority. The Belko Experiment is a psychological bloodbath where people find themselves trapped with steel security, with no means of escape. A host monitors their every move through a voice system as the employees are instructed to continue killing more colleagues in every time sensitive round. Initially these workers refuse and work together as they are unwilling to believe their current situation. Immediately after they watch in horror their colleagues’ heads burst through an implanted device, everyone’s attitudes change.
The group is faced with the dilemma: kill 30 colleagues with their own hands or 60 random colleagues die by any means. This separates the workers as it becomes every man for themselves. Prisoner’s Dilemma perfectly depicts options that players could choose. The prisoner’s dilemma is as follows: two individuals are arrested for a crime they committed together. They are separately questioned and offered a deal. If one confesses while the other doesn’t, the later would receive a much higher sentencing. If they both confess, they would receive a minimal prison sentence. The rational reasoning would be to both confess and taking the logical approach. In the film, the Belko Experiment, it would be in the group’s best interest to kill 30 colleagues with their own hands, being the dominant strategy. However, due to fear and the unknown of the decisions and actions their fellow colleagues will take, many ultimately succumb to killing those who could potentially kill them.
https://jme.bmj.com/content/30/4/359
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/movies/office-horror-movies-the-belko-experiment-mayhem.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/movies/the-belko-experiment-review.html