"Evil"

[Paul St. John]

This is a really good movie if anybody wants to check it out.  It's called, " Evil", and it's I think, Swedish subtitles.

It's about a kid who gets into trouble a lot at school.  He's mostly lashing out as a resuylt of getting his ass kicked all the time by his mom's mate.  Anyhow, he starts out seeming like a dickhead.  he gets sent to one of these fucked up boarding schools.  They send him there as a last resort. Everybody's pretty much counted the guy out.

The story goes on from there .. but it shows what goes on in some of these places.  There is even a "ring" sort of thing, and the kid ends up actually being the hero of the story.  It's actually one of my favorite movies.  It really is a good story.  The funny thing is the kid does end up experiencing personal growth, but not by using the program, but by fighting it, and through his association with other decent people there.

The story is cool.. the ending's really cool.

... and it kinda illustrates, in my opinion, between being good at core, but having some issues, and real evil.

Even if I had never heard of any of these places, I still think this would be one of my favorite movies.  

For me, it was a feel-good movie.

One of the coolest things, too, is that it's actually based on a true  story, and it is written and directed by the main character, Eric Ponti.

The place where he went was a lil' different from the ones spoken about here.  It doesn't seem to be geared towards drug-users, and it was more academic- more of a school.. But the dynamic is the same.

A hierarchy of students and members rule, and have all sorts of pointless techniques to break people.
In the end, the hero of the story, Ponti.. just wins out on so many different fronts.. It gives a real sense of justice.  Also, throughout, the way he deals with the attempts to break him are pretty cool, too.  Straight and to the point, cutting right through the bullshit.
It's funny how this cat Ponti, hoes in as an actual violent bully, but even he cannot stomach that sort of bullying.  His character is too strong for it.

Even if the place ya went t was much worse, or not as bad, it's a cool story.. I really liked it.

Paul

[psy]

Here is the IMDB entry:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338309/
Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil_(2003_film)
Netflix streaming:
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Evil/60034 ... kid=222336

[Ursus]

Yep, you beat me to it, psy. I was gonna say, I believe Paul may be referring to this Swedish film:

Ondskan (2003)

• English title: "Evil"
  [li]Directed by Mikael Håfström, based on Jan Guillou's semi-autobiographical novel Ondskan (1981).
• Erik Ponti, the main character, is based on Guillou himself.

[/li][/list]

See also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil_%282003_film%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ondskan_%28novel%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Guillou[/list]

[Ursus]

The New York Times
Movie Review
Evil (2003)

Challenging the Damage That Boys Do

By STEPHEN HOLDEN
Published: March 10, 2006

 Ruthless teenage pecking orders, be they street gangs or snooty alpha girls and their retinues, seem to be hard-wired into society. Each of these expressions of the primal human need to create hierarchies comes equipped with its own elaborate rites of passage. But as countless stories of fraternity hazings gone awry have demonstrated, the boundary separating playful humiliation from life-threatening sadism can be awfully thin. Is such ritualized behavior really unavoidable?

"Evil," a well-made Swedish film directed by Mikael Hafstrom and set at an elite boys' secondary school in the mid-1950's, illustrates how cruelties exacted in the name of initiation are perpetuated year after year in a closed system of tit-for-tat violence. 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.

At the Stjarnsberg Boarding School, the seniors who run the student council relish punishing the incoming freshmen for the tiniest infractions of their arbitrary rules. The worst punishment in a graduated system of house arrests and detentions is a summons to "the ring," where two seniors beat up an underclassman, then make him crawl and beg for mercy. For the top dogs, it's payback time for the pain they endured when they were younger.

What happens when a student breaks the code of blind obedience and stands up to the leaders? In "Evil," Erik Ponti (Andreas Wilson), an aggressive newcomer and champion swimmer, learns the consequences of defiance the hard way.

Video: Movie Minutes Stephen Holden reviews "Evil," a Swedish film directed by Mikael Hafstrom and set at an elite boys' secondary school in the mid-1950's.

Because it initially portrays Erik as a monster, expelled from his public school for leading a gang that terrorizes another boy and beats him to a pulp, the movie surprises by doing a complete turnaround and making him an adolescent rebel hero. It also makes much of the fact that Erik, who comes from a working-class background, finds himself surrounded at his new school by willowy, sneering aristocrats who flaunt their pedigrees and wealth as badges of their superiority.

Stjarnsberg is Snob Central, run by a disingenuous headmaster who turns a blind eye to abuses he might have experienced himself as a youth. The movie invites you to hate the school and everyone in it except for the swimming coach, who encourages Erik to rebel, and Erik's quiet, nerdy roommate and best friend, Pierre (Henrik Lundstrom), who becomes the focus of abuse when Erik refuses to bow down. Erik also violates the rules by secretly hooking up with Marja (Linda Zilliacus), a Finnish girl who works in the dining hall.

The story comes wrapped in tidy psychological explanations. Erik comes from a family as paternalistically oppressed as any portrayed by Ingmar Bergman: his stepfather (Johan Rabaeus) is a tyrant who regularly orders Erik to visit him for "a talk" in the other room after dinner, then beats him with a switch while his terrorized mother cowers in the next room, playing the piano to drown out the sounds.

And so evil at home begets evil at Erik's first school, from which he is expelled after being denounced as pure evil. And pure evil, in the person of the head upperclassman, Otto Silverhielm (Gustaf Skarsgard), is what Erik faces in a showdown that efficiently pushes the usual buttons.

Evil

Opens today in New York and Los Angeles.

Directed by Mikael Hafstrom; written (in Swedish, with English subtitles) by Mr. Hafstrom and Hans Gunnarsson, based on the novel by Jan Guillou; director of photography, Peter Mokrosinski; edited by Darek Hodor; music by Francis Shaw; production designer, Anna Asp; produced by Hans Lonnerheden and Ingemar Leijonborg; released by Magnolia Pictures. Running time: 113 minutes. This film is not rated.

WITH: Andreas Wilson (Erik Ponti), Henrik Lundstrom (Pierre Tanguy), Gustaf Skarsgard (Otto Silverhielm), Linda Zilliacus (Marja), Jesper Salen (Dalen), Filip Berg (Johan) and Johan Rabaeus (the father).[/list]

--------------

Comment left for this review:

review of "Evil," a film from Sweden

The is an outstanding film. I believe it has more depth than Times Review gives it credit. Wonderful photography and appropriate orchestral backing. A real cinematic experience, not an independent low budget movie. Hard to take at times, but true to life. Highly recommended.

– Joseph T. Masaryk, Mesa, Arizona[/list][/list]

[DannyB II]

This is a really good movie if anybody wants to check it out.  It's called, " Evil", and it's I think, Swedish subtitles.

It's about a kid who gets into trouble a lot at school.  He's mostly lashing out as a resuylt of getting his ass kicked all the time by his mom's mate.  Anyhow, he starts out seeming like a dickhead.  he gets sent to one of these fucked up boarding schools.  They send him there as a last resort. Everybody's pretty much counted the guy out.

The story goes on from there .. but it shows what goes on in some of these places.  There is even a "ring" sort of thing, and the kid ends up actually being the hero of the story.  It's actually one of my favorite movies.  It really is a good story.  The funny thing is the kid does end up experiencing personal growth, but not by using the program, but by fighting it, and through his association with other decent people there.

The story is cool.. the ending's really cool.

... and it kinda illustrates, in my opinion, between being good at core, but having some issues, and real evil.

Even if I had never heard of any of these places, I still think this would be one of my favorite movies.  

For me, it was a feel-good movie.

One of the coolest things, too, is that it's actually based on a true  story, and it is written and directed by the main character, Eric Ponti.

The place where he went was a lil' different from the ones spoken about here.  It doesn't seem to be geared towards drug-users, and it was more academic- more of a school.. But the dynamic is the same.

A hierarchy of students and members rule, and have all sorts of pointless techniques to break people.
In the end, the hero of the story, Ponti.. just wins out on so many different fronts.. It gives a real sense of justice.  Also, throughout, the way he deals with the attempts to break him are pretty cool, too.  Straight and to the point, cutting right through the bullshit.
It's funny how this cat Ponti, hoes in as an actual violent bully, but even he cannot stomach that sort of bullying.  His character is too strong for it.

Even if the place ya went t was much worse, or not as bad, it's a cool story.. I really liked it.

Paul

Thanks Paul I am looking into it on channel 131 and watch movies online, there is one more but if your anti-virus is not good you could be in trouble, it is called H33t.com. Where did you get it.

Danny

[psy]

You can watch it on Netflix online.  It's 8 bucks / month for unlimited streaming to your pc/wii/ps3/360/whatever and 2 disks at home at a time.

[Whooter]

Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes(which I use for screening) seemed to like it… 69% on the T-meter and 93% from the RT community.

Those are high ratings for RT.

...

[DannyB II]

You can watch it on Netflix online.  It's 8 bucks / month for unlimited streaming to your pc/wii/ps3/360/whatever and 2 disks at home at a time.

Thanks that will work.

Danny

[SharonMcCarthy]

yes the netflixs does have instant viewing and i recommend just buying the box because it is well worth it. The movie Evil was really good. Thanks for the recommendations everyone.