Derren Brown: Sacrifice is a documentary film that follows British illusionist and mentalist, Derren Brown as he sets up an elaborate experiment in which he tries to manipulate an average person into risking their life for a complete stranger.
Brown's goal is to challenge the notion of self-preservation and push the limits of human empathy. To do this, he chooses an unsuspecting participant named Phil, a mild-mannered American insurance salesman who is flown to the UK under the false pretense of participating in a focus group on weight loss.
Under the guise of a team-building exercise, Phil begins to participate in a series of psychological tests, slowly being conditioned to empathize with a man named Mark who is seeking asylum in the UK. Mark is portrayed as an innocent man who needs help to escape persecution from his home country.
As the experiment progresses, Brown continually ups the stakes and puts Phil in increasingly dangerous scenarios, culminating in a final test where he is faced with a deadly situation where he must decide whether to sacrifice himself to save Mark.
Throughout the experiment, Brown provides commentary and insight into the psychology behind his manipulation techniques, revealing how he has been able to influence Phil's decision-making process without him realizing.
The film raises ethical questions about the limits of manipulation for the sake of scientific exploration and poses the question of whether it is justifiable to put someone's life at risk for the sake of an idea.