Apt Pupil
Stop the presses! Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea. . . This
review begins with the fascinating declaration that a Stephen King work has
actually managed to transfer itself to the silver screen and not become a
travesty falling in on itself! I speak most decisively of Apt Pupil, a
novella by Mr. King (from his book, Different Seasons), that works
its old black magic, seducing and drawing us ever deeper into an inferno of
uncalculated fright.
The Apt Pupil of the title is Todd Bowman (Brad Renfro), a spoiled, high
achieving high school senior, who suspects that an elderly neighbor,
Arthur Denker (Ian McKellen), might just be a wanted Nazi criminal, Kurt
Dussander. In a compression of time, we see Todd researching his quarry's
background in the library, after being introduced to the Holocaust and its
horrors in a history class. On the thinnest of pretexts, Bowman introduces himself to Denker using the excuse of giving him his paper, and in the next
instance, is riding and roping him into submission with the revelation that
he IS Dussander. If Dussander does not do what Todd wants, he will contact
the proper authorities and turn over all the information he has managed to
gather on him. The price of his silence? To recite to Bowman all the
atrocities that he witnessed, and used on his victims in various
concentration camps.
Apt Pupil is another in a long line of psychological dramas that pits the
hunter against the hunted, the fox after the hound, a cat after the mouse; with the
ultimate contest pitting one highly intelligent being against another, and
the ultimate prize being dominate control. Ian McKellan as Dussander etches
a finely honed portrayal of the frumpy German gentleman who, when called
upon to march for Todd in a Nazi officer's uniform, unleashes the hounds of
hell and renews a sense of deja vu that he had put behind him and forgotten years ago. McKellan manages to parlay all his skills into a believable and
calculated performance, that bespeaks the evil dwelling within mankind.
Dussander was a man who held the power of life and death in his hands and
now he has been reduced to an existence in an arts and crafts bungalow in
anywhere USA, killing only time as it volleys back the courtesy.
When Renfro and McKellan share the screen and attempt to checkmate each
other with verbal affronts, they are moving in their complexity and texture
to build a wall of defense, that manages to be stormed until one becomes the
eventual victor and the torch is passed on to new and extremely fertile
territories. Todd gets more than he ever bargained for is
a great understatement and it is a decision that will forever change the
course of his life as he knows it. Renfro crafts a performance that runs
the gamut from unsure, yet belligerent teenager, to a machine of steel that
spews convictions as easily as night follows day. He manages to create a
Frankenstein monster and in the process becomes one himself.
Director Bryan Singer does not have a great deal of experience under his
belt, but with this production he has shown a perception to create a mood
piece that germinates like an infectious rash. Singer keeps his cast in
check and tightly reined, yet allows a certain degree of freedom to be
attained by his two main characters. The dark colours that are sprinkled
with visions of light could be construed as elements of good and evil and
come courtesy of the palette of cinematographer, Newton Thomas Sigel. Art
direction by Kathleen McKernin and set direction by Jennifer Herwitt, spoke
of the decrepit straits and surroundings that had become Dussander's life
as he sought anonymity from the rest of the world.
Apt Pupil is that rare movie that makes an appearance of unmeasured access
to itself and leaves as quickly. This film is another in a long line of
creations that appeared today and were gone tomorrow, but whose impact is
felt long after the credits have rolled, blackness fills the screen and we
go off to other pursuits. While the subject matter is not wholly in the
context of pleasing subject matter, it is guaranteed to make one stop and
think about the possibilities that could prevail if given half a chance.
Written by: Mary F. Sibley
Reviewers Rating: 8.5
Reader's Rating: 8.88
Reader's Votes: 9
Added: 4-May-2003
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