I hope they had a multitude of psychologists on-set for the duration of the project to collect and analyze all the social interactions coming out of what I can only explain as... the biggest game of "Let's play soviet Russia!" I could ever imagine.<p>It wasn't just the social engineering of this that has me floored, it is the funding and absurd level of attention to detail that I can't believe; e.g. custom-sized pipe used for the real-flushing toilets in the fake apartments because the director felt it <i>sounded</i> more authentic. Or the real food in the fridges of these fake (Real?) apartments that actually had the real 1952 expiration dates printed on them.<p>This would be like the sets of Mad Men not being CG-enhanced 1, 2 and 3-room constructions, but instead being an honest to god city block of high rises with working apartments and people living in them for years at a time all forced to act/talk/dress like they lived in the 1960s again.<p>This is truly impressive... I don't know if that is the right word. Scary also comes to mind.<p>I am also concerned that so many people signed up to live in this environment willingly for 6 years. It doesn't bother me that the director had this passionate vision, it bothers me that so many willingly and happily followed suit; even the ugly aspects necessary to fulfill their rolls.<p>I don't know what that says about the human condition, but given the eerie similarities between this and the classic Stanford "The Experiment", I feel a strange tingle in my stomach.