Stanley Milgram was a psychologist who is most famous for conducting an experiment in obedience to authority.    His subjects were led to believe that they were part of an experiment studying the effectiveness of punishment in education.  They were told to administer ever-stronger electric shocks to another individual any time he gave an incorrect answer to a question.  Despite their discomfort, and despite hearing grunts of pain and protestations from the other room, many continued to shock the other individual up to the maximum of 450 volts.  Some objected part way through but were calmly told to continue, and most did (BTW, the individual being “shocked” was part of Milgram’s team, there were no actual electric shocks and the grunts and protestations were all pre-recorded).

Starring Peter Sarsgaard and Winona Ryder, Experimenter, through the nearly continuous breaking of the “fourth wall” by the Milgram character, tells the story of what motivated him to conduct such an experiment and the controversy surrounding the results and the methodology.  He conducted other, unrelated experiments, but always found himself returning to the obedience experiment, publishing a book on it 13 years after the original experiment in 1961.  This experiment has had such an impact, that it is referenced even now whenever new atrocities are uncovered.