In 1857 Thomas Hughes published “Tom Brown’s Schooldays”, which despite the unassuming title (or the sunny illustration on the recent edition’s front mask) is actually a bitter indictment of the brutality that Hughes saw as rampant in the 19th century British public school system. Jan Guillou’s 1981 autobiographical unusual, “Ondskan” — of which “Nasty” is the film version — takes on mid-1900s Swedish boarding schools in a similar map. As with their British counterparts, at the Swedish schools it was the boys themselves who enforced the rules. The upper-classmen would act as harsh disciplinarians for the students in the lower forms, while teachers and administrators saw their duty to be only what their job descriptions entailed: teaching and administering.
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As a film version of Guillou’s book, “Unpleasant” is very accomplished indeed. The main character, Erik, is a bully who after regular beatings at home at the hand of his stepfather has arrive to hold the same violent reach with his classmates. Due to constant fighting he is expelled from one high school after another, until finally it is left to his mother to sell off some of the family’s prized possessions to pay for his tuition at an elite boarding school. This is the only school that will now get him, and at a steep stamp. Shimmering that the year at this school will be his last chance to graduate and travel on to college, Erik is certain to score through it without another expulsion. At the same time he is also certain not to become victim to the frail brutality that he soon discovers permeates the school. It is the tension between these two objectives that drives the tale of “Tainted”.
The upper-classmen at his modern boarding school swiftly realize what they’ve got in Erik, and in response they continually raise the stakes in their obsession over making him submit. What results are scenes combining cruelty, brutality, and downright disgust (one episode enthralling a late-night visit by the upper-classmen to Erik’s room is definitely not for the squeamish.) We also at times feel interested frustration at having to stare Erik set aside up with the various mistreatments, especially radiant that if he did fight benefit he could easily subdue any of these upper-classmen.
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Lead actor Andreas Wilson’s characterization of Erik is masterful, evoking the exasperate that drives him while also showing that as an individual he is far too complex to be dismissed as simply “bad”. After the years of mistreatment by his stepfather (explaining not only the genesis of Erik’s violent nature but his almost super-human ability to withstand hurt), he has developed an unblinkingly tough facade, but as he begins to experience deep friendship and even romantic feelings for the first time, he gets in touch with his caring side as well. Erik is a boy of few words, giving Wilson relatively few lines of dialog and requiring him to evoke a astronomical deal solely through facial expression and bodily aspect. Nonetheless, through Wilson we advance to contain in Erik’s tedious transformation — his ultimate transcendance of his brutal homelife and the mistreatment at school. It is also worth noting that other characters are multi-dimensional as well. Not all of the teachers are blind and unfeeling to what is going on with the students, and Erik’s worst tormenters exhibit they are vulnerable in surprising ways. Even Erik’s fearful best friend/roommate proves to have an unexpectedly daring side. A lesser film would not have strived for such nuance.
The resolution of the record is very satisfying, in portion because when Erik finally does fight again (both at school and at home) it is out of considered necessity and not violent impulse. And, when he comes to enact his ultimate victory at the very demolish, it is through perseverance, insight, and cleverness rather than violence at all.
The special features on the DVD include a featurette on the making of the movie, where we gather to meet Guillou himself and learn more about how he came to write the unique unusual. We also hear from each of the featured actors and actresses and capture in some behind-the-scenes production footage.
I should tag that the blurb on the DVD conceal (”It’s Fight Club in a boarding school”) is scheme off the note. Did that critic study the same movie? Hopefully my synopsis gives a better sense of what the film is about.
I would recommend Ondskan to anyone who is involved in coming-of-age films. American cinema has always been expert at such portrayals, and it is grand to gape so accomplished an example out of Sweden. I liked especially the fact that the director never wavers as he unmasks the unwholesome face of an angst-ridden, violence-prone, socially intransigent Swedish society of the not so long ago . Space in the fifties, mostly at a posh boarding school for the upper-class, where the sixth-form boys, led by an effete Swedish aristocrat, residence about enforcing their arbitrary and violent rules while the faculty turn a blind recognize, this film cleverly avoids the hooks, punches and triumphs of the underdog advance to grips with the jack-booted state quo via his fists alone by allowing him to prevail to justice through the intervention of Swedish law. There are enough fisticuffs along the map, however, to satisfy the blood-thirsty among you. Well-acted, worthy script, handsome cinematographic moments.
