The controversial THE GAME OF DEATH (LE JEU DE LA MORT) follows contestants signing up for a pilot game show. The show is fake, they were really taking part in an adaptation of the infamous Milgram experiments - the 1960s study in authority and obedience involving volunteers administering electric shocks. In the TV version, a glamorous presenter orders the contestants to shock their fellow players when they fail to answer a question correctly. The participant is not actually ‘shocked,' but neither the questioner or audience are aware of this. Amusing, compelling and disturbing, the film raises a warning against blindly following authority and also about the manipulative power of television itself.

written and produced by Christophe Nick

directed by Thomas Bornot, Gilles Amado and Alain-Michel Blanc

France, 2010, Documentary, French with English subtitles, Video, 95 min