Why do men do the evil things they do? Is it because they are taught to do them? Does each of us have the potential for evil locked inside, or is evil something that some of us are just especially good at? These questions are the premise of the film Apt Pupil, which uses the holocaust as its vehicle for examining the dark side of human nature.
Todd Bowden (played perfectly by Brad Renfro) is, to say the least, not your average teenager. He's fascinated by the Nazis and their attempted extermination of the Jews during World War II. Is it his own darker side that draws him to them, or does their evil infect him when he is exposed to it? As the film progresses, the former seems to be the case. Todd discovers that a neighbor who goes by the name "Denker" is really fugitive Nazi war criminal Kurt Dussander (played by Ian McKellen). The boy assembles enough evidence to put Dussander in the hands of the Israeli authorities, but rather than doing the right thing, Todd strikes a deal with the old Nazi: tell me about what it was like and I'll destroy the evidence.
Reluctantly, Dussander agrees, and begins to recount tales of what it was like to be responsible for so many deaths. He's matter-of-fact about it, not remorseful, and Todd is drawn deeper into his own dark side. At one point Dussander warns Todd, "Boy, you're playing with fire", something that the viewer will have remarked on a good deal earlier. Dussander initially resents the boy forcing him to bring back the past, but as the film goes on he begins to relish a return to his brutal past. It is then that Todd does indeed get burned. At first controlling Dussander by blackmail, he soon finds the tables turned on himself and finds that he is the one being blackmailed.
More than anything, this film is a character study in evil. Todd is selfish, self-serving, arrogant, brutal, and sociopathic. He and Dussander share a macabre fascination with killing and cruelty, so much so that Dussander actually starts to like him. Perhaps he sees himself in Todd, who would have made a perfect Nazi himself had he been born in the right place at the right time.
Dussander claims that he was just doing what had to be done during the war, but we find that's not entirely true, as his urge for power over another life returns and takes control of him once more. There is a seductive attraction to evil that he can't resist. Killing at the orders of his superiors during the holocaust, he is now ready to kill to satisfy his own dark urges.
Both McKellen and Renfro give superb performances in this film that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the end, which is the film's one weak point. It seemed anti-climactic in my opinion, and we're not sure what happens to Todd or how his experiences impact him. The film proves to be quite thought-provoking. Dussander's alias, "Denker", is German for thinker. That's an appropriate name, as Apt Pupil will leave you thinking about it long after the end credits scroll.
Based on the novella by Stephen King director Bryan Singer's follow-up to THE USUAL SUSPECTS is a harrowing psychological thriller about the relations...More at Family Video
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