Pick Your Major Carefully
Apt Pupil (1998)
Seen on 8 October 1998 with Lothlorien at the Sony Lincoln Square as a Sneak Preview ($0)
What makes a honor student withdraw from his usual activities, his friends, and his studies, and become antisocial, twisted, and flirting with disaster? Some might say it's sociopathic behavior brought on my too much curiosity into evil. Others might say, "confusion with his sexual orientation." Apt Pupil says yes to both, and quite homophobically, I might add.
While Apt Pupil does present the nuances of power, manipulation, control, and evil very well, it does so in a way that manages to both trivialize the Holocaust and bring us back to the good old days of the killer homo.
The "fun" begins when said honor student Todd Bowen (Brad Renfro) for some reason becomes enthralled by Hitler's Final Solution, does extensive research, and does the one thing a 40-year-old manhunt cannot do: unearth the identity and whereabouts of war criminal Kurt Dussander (played by Ian McKellen), right there in his home town. Right there, on the bus! He has fingerprint proof and everything. So he shoehorns his way into Dussander's home and life. He visits every day after school, craving stories of the good old days.
The sickening recounting of the inmate's final agonies do take their toll on poor Todd, who starts to have nightmares and even hallucinations during the day. His friend notices a change in him. So do his parents. So does a caring social worker (David Schwimmer with a mustache drew belly laughs from the audience). Boy, are *they* ever in for a surprise.
There's a lot not to like in Apt Pupil. The idea that an otherwise normal kid will become sociopathic from an overinterest in Nazi deathcamps is ridiculous. That a kid will turn to sociopathic behavior and homicide because he's afraid he *might* be gay, and because one girl has gay baited him during a failed bout of making out in a car, is pretty over the top, and frankly, antiquated. That the drifter is HIV+, willing to trade sex for lodging, and wearing fey clothing, is something I have not seen since, well, I was too young to remember anything this appalling in my lifetime (yes, I am that young).
The homophobia in the movie is offensive and disturbing. HOWEVER, the movie does have a few redeeming qualities. The opening credits are very good. The exploration of manipulation and control is excellent--Machiavelli would be yelling "checkmate!" from his grave during some of the scenes. McKellen and Renfro turn in very good performances as the Nazi and his protege. There are some truly wonderful bits of cinematography. The scene in which Todd is practically flying on and then thrown from his bicycle reminded me of Zentropa (a movie I had finally just gotten over). There is also a scene that is one of the most gripping I have ever seen (don't want to give away the context); that such horror begins with a cut-away to a seen from The Jeffersons is actually hilarious and ingenious, not tacky. Despite all the badness, the movie has, in its demented world, a very strong sense of humor.
Personally, I think we should have seen more of Todd before he unearths his Nazi friend. Seen some of the murderous potential up front, e.g., the scene in which Todd kills a pigeon should have been in the first twenty minutes of the film, before meeting Dussander.
Directed by Bryan Singer; adapted for the screen by Brandon Boyce from a story by thrillmaster Stephen King. Cinematography by Tom Sigel.
PS: The title is very amusing if you say it very loudly with a British accent, emphasizing the consonants--aPT! Poo-Pil! Call me for a demonstration.
More movie reviews by Seth Bookey, with graphics, can be found at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2679/kino.html
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