Apt Pupil(1998) was the follow up by Bryan Singer after the highly acclaimed The Usual Suspects. He later went on to do such commercial stuff like the X-Men series and Superman Returns, but none of them have the touch of the earlier films.
When a student (Brad Renfro) discovers that an old man staying in their town was a Nazi War criminal, he confronts him and blackmails him. However he does not need money in return but just wants to listen to the man's story and understand what made him do it. Initially the old man is reluctant but then he gives in.
There is a scene where the student makes the old man wear a Nazi uniform and march around the house - both of them getting a sense of what it means to have unlimited power. Playing the old man is Ian McKellen who does a brilliant portrayal of a war criminal who starts reliving his evil past.
As the story unfolds, the student and the old man try to control each other. This is no struggle of Good vs Evil. While the boy is curious and innocent in the beginning, soon he also enjoys the power he has in different situations. Being older, the war criminal is able to manipulate the situations to his advantage and finally he gains the upper hand.
The other characters - the boy's parents, teachers and friends are shown as typical WASPs who are as innocent as Adam and Eve. They think that once Hitler was defeated we have rooted out Evil from this world. (How come there are never proper black characters in such films? The only token black appears towards the end and he is from the FBI - therefore behaves more or less like a white.)
Finally the war criminal is traced out but instead of surrendering he decides to kill himself. In any other film that would be the proper ending - the evil is now dead and forgotten. But this film is about how Evil survives and is passed on through generations. The scene of the old man dying is intercut with a sequence of the boy threatening a teacher (who is inquiring about the boy's evil deeds) using the same language the old man would use to threaten him. The boy has learnt his lesson and become the Evil.
In that sense the film contradicts the theory that the crimes committed in Germany (or other places like Cambodia) are done by people who are different. We cannot be like them. This film seems to say that big or small, evil minds are the same.
The film reminded me of Lord of the Flies - a brilliant study of a group of boys abandoned on an island after a nuclear war. Left alone, they have an opportunity to start a new community and not repeat the mistakes of their fathers. But slowly they descend into savagery and end up creating a world more horrifying. Apt Pupil reinforces the message that even children can become just as cruel as adults.
When a student (Brad Renfro) discovers that an old man staying in their town was a Nazi War criminal, he confronts him and blackmails him. However he does not need money in return but just wants to listen to the man's story and understand what made him do it. Initially the old man is reluctant but then he gives in.
There is a scene where the student makes the old man wear a Nazi uniform and march around the house - both of them getting a sense of what it means to have unlimited power. Playing the old man is Ian McKellen who does a brilliant portrayal of a war criminal who starts reliving his evil past.
As the story unfolds, the student and the old man try to control each other. This is no struggle of Good vs Evil. While the boy is curious and innocent in the beginning, soon he also enjoys the power he has in different situations. Being older, the war criminal is able to manipulate the situations to his advantage and finally he gains the upper hand.
The other characters - the boy's parents, teachers and friends are shown as typical WASPs who are as innocent as Adam and Eve. They think that once Hitler was defeated we have rooted out Evil from this world. (How come there are never proper black characters in such films? The only token black appears towards the end and he is from the FBI - therefore behaves more or less like a white.)
Finally the war criminal is traced out but instead of surrendering he decides to kill himself. In any other film that would be the proper ending - the evil is now dead and forgotten. But this film is about how Evil survives and is passed on through generations. The scene of the old man dying is intercut with a sequence of the boy threatening a teacher (who is inquiring about the boy's evil deeds) using the same language the old man would use to threaten him. The boy has learnt his lesson and become the Evil.
In that sense the film contradicts the theory that the crimes committed in Germany (or other places like Cambodia) are done by people who are different. We cannot be like them. This film seems to say that big or small, evil minds are the same.
The film reminded me of Lord of the Flies - a brilliant study of a group of boys abandoned on an island after a nuclear war. Left alone, they have an opportunity to start a new community and not repeat the mistakes of their fathers. But slowly they descend into savagery and end up creating a world more horrifying. Apt Pupil reinforces the message that even children can become just as cruel as adults.
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