Evil

    Evil
    2003

    Synopsis

    Stockholm, the fifties. Though academically bright, violent pupil Erik Ponti is expelled from his state school with the headmaster’s words “there’s only one word for people like you – evil… what you need is a good thrashing, and more”. In fact already Erik frequently receives a ‘good’ thrashing at the hands of his sadistic stepfather – so he is packed off by his mother to boardingschool

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    Cast

    • Andreas WilsonErik Ponti
    • Henrik LundströmPierre Tanguy
    • Gustaf SkarsgårdOtto Silverhielm
    • Linda ZilliacusMarja
    • Jesper SalénDahlén
    • Mats BergmanMelander
    • Johan RabaeusEriks styvfar
    • Marie RichardsonFru Ponti, Eriks mor
    • Lennart HjulströmRektor Lindblad
    • Björn GranathRektor

    Recommendations

    • 80

      Chicago Reader

      This suspenseful, beautifully acted Dickensian drama forces us to confront our own bloodlust: do we root for the teen to win a moral victory or to beat the bad guy to a pulp?
    • 75

      New York Post

      Director Mikael Hafstrom - the gentleman responsible for last year's Jennifer Aniston bomb "Derailed" - keeps us guessing as he confidently builds suspense.
    • 70

      Variety

      Evil is not, as the title would suggest, a horror film, at least not a conventional one. Based on the autobiographical novel by Jan Guillou and set in the mid-1950s, the film relates the experiences of a troubled young man who's enrolled into a hidebound private school.
    • 70

      The Hollywood Reporter

      Although Evil eventually suffers from its heavy-handed treatment of its subject, it is a well-made and engrossing melodrama.
    • 67

      The A.V. Club

      It's more about giving rich bullies the same comeuppance afforded to sneering wardens with bullwhips, and on those superficial grounds, it's reasonably gripping.
    • 63

      TV Guide Magazine

      This didactic drama is set safely in the past and says nothing about the culture of conformity at all costs that hasn't been said before.
    • 63

      Chicago Tribune

      Bullying is not easy to watch on screen, even--or perhaps especially--if the viewer had the fortune to avoid either side of the bully/bullied equation.
    • 60

      The New York Times

      The movie is as blunt as its title. It portrays such behavior as "evil" without offering any deep insights or revelations, beyond handing out the plot equivalent of a lollipop at the end of the movie as compensation for the vicarious anguish.

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