Exam 2009 Movie Explained- What Was The Question?

I’m a fan of workplace horror. I think there isn’t anything as scary as monotony. The more mundane something is, the more alarming things are when they go off the rails. There are a ton of great movies that capitalize on the inherent threat of large corporations. Not all big companies are evil, of course, but all of the pieces are in place for exploitation and abuse. Films like The Belko Experiment use that simple idea and expand it into a vast conspiracy of interlocking agencies and murky motivations. Little known Britsih import Exam from 2009 is one of those types of films.

Eight candidates are seated in a bare, darkened room and told they are one exam away from winning a job. They are given very specific but simple rules. Stay in this room until the test is completed. Don’t speak to the guards or anyone outside of the room, and don’t destroy your test. If you pass and follow the rules, you get a contract with the company and the keys to the kingdom. Failure is not an option. From the panicked look of someone who flunks early, failure probably means more than just not getting the job.

One by one, the applicants fail. Several fail by accident and others by manipulation. Each person in the group has a reason to be there. One has a loved one that desperately needs medication. Another is a narcissistic lunatic who is masking sickness. Still, others have ulterior motives that only become clear in the end. As time counts down and tempers flare, the group turns on each other. Everyone suspects everyone else, and things go from bad to worse. Here’s everything you need to know about Exam and what was the one question and answer?

What is the question in Exam?

The opening monologue is more than it seems. It bears examination of its own. The Invigilator or proctor for Americans tells them he knows they have endured hardships to get there. He further explains that struggle was necessary because if you can’t handle the hiring process, you can’t handle the job. It begs the question, what have they endured already, and what is the job? The applicants talk about a pandemic raging outside the walls of the corporation. They all seem desperate to work for this company.

No one is given names. Instead, they refer to each other by physical attributes and trade barbs. They don’t view each other as anything more than competition. For a brief time, they cooperate, but nothing works. Some are unwilling to hurt anyone or play unfairly, while others have no problem getting their hands dirty. One by one, their numbers dwindle until there are only four left and ten minutes left to answer the single question.

There is only one question and one answer in Exam. White is right Occam’s Razor is the key to unlocking everything, but they are looking in the wrong place. A question was asked at the very beginning, “Are there any questions?” Indoctrinated to look for more complex answers, the group rejects this simple answer. Like confirmation bias, the group is defined by their experiences. They are doomed to be locked into what they know and believe about themselves. White is a fighter and used to having to scrap to survive; thus, he thinks there can be only one winner, and he has to get rid of everyone else to claim the job. Dark hides behind her intellect but hides terrible insecurity and mental pain. Black wants to defuse violence whenever possible but ends up being shot.

The clues were everywhere if anyone could get out of their own heads and avoid paranoia long enough. Deaf seemed freaked out but was right about the question and answer. “To see clearly is all” What he should have said to be clearer would have been, “to hear clearly is all.” In the end, Blonde sees the words Question 1. by looking through Deaf’s glasses and a piece of broken glass. She now realizes the only question was known the whole time. With seconds left, she brought her paper to Deaf, the company’s founder, and answered “no.”

How did Blonde win the job?

In the end, the clock was accelerated, and White thought the time was up. In reality, there were twenty-two seconds. He broke a rule by speaking to the powers that be before the test was over, not to mention he didn’t have the question and answer right. If at any time the one question posited was answered either orally or written, they would win the job. It’s like a test that lists instructions and questions, and the teacher says to read the whole test first. After taking the entire test, the final question says if you have read everything, first write your name on the top and nothing else and turn it in.

The only question is the most obvious one, which is why the group overlooks it. “Any questions?” the Invigilator says. Our group was so lost in the competition and their intellectual headspace they forgot to actively listen to their instructions. They heard what they thought was important, not what was necessarily significant. If anyone had been paying attention, they could have answered at any time with a simple “no” or even a question, and the exam would have been over and the job rewarded to the responder.

The company was cutthroat, but they weren’t killers. Those who were eliminated weren’t murdered, and the gunshot didn’t kill Black. One of the company’s discoveries is a medication that rapidly regenerates tissue. Black had been taking that medication, and as a result, the gunshot did not kill him. Upon hearing that, Blonde agreed to the job. Because she was detail-oriented and level-headed, she could see the answer and get the job.

In many ways, this reminded me of the brilliant but grisly Canadian cult film Cube. People are flawed. It is the only constant. We are our own worst enemies. Sometimes you have to see the forest for the trees.