Evil (2003)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Evil / law of the fist |
| Original title | Ondskan |
| Country of production | Sweden |
| Publishing year | 2003 |
| length | 114 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Mikael Håfström |
| script |
Jan Guillou , Hans Gunnarsson , Mikael Håfström |
| production |
Ingemar Leijonborg Hans Lönnerheden |
| music | Francis Alexander Sorg |
| camera | Peter Mokrosiński |
| cut | Darek Hodor |
| occupation | |
| |
Evil (original title: Ondskan , alternative title: Faustrecht ) is a Swedish fictional film from 2003, based on the autobiographical novel Evil - Das Böse (1981) by Jan Guillou . Directed by Mikael Håfström .
action
Sweden in the 1950s. 16-year-old Erik Ponti and his gang borrow money from other students at school at exorbitant interest. There is a risk of beatings if the repayment is not made on time. He lives at home with his mother and stepfather, a waiter who regularly beats him with a cane.
When Erik and his gang are caught stealing records from a store, Erik is blamed for the lack of loyalty from his cronies. However, he has the option of enrolling at the Stjärnsberg private school. There he gets a new chance to continue his education. Erik decides to take advantage of this and stop his previous violent life.
In Stjärnsberg Erik has to deal with new types of violence; Here there is a system called "kamratuppfostran", in German "camaraderie education": the teachers themselves do not practice corporal punishment, but delegate this task as a privilege to older students. Erik will soon be her main target.
Erik defends himself against the student board by refusing the humiliation that threatens him, like everyone else, from the students of the older years, and for this he takes on arrest and detention at the weekend. Over time, this provokes the elders to such an extent that they harass him to an ever greater extent, and ultimately even torture him almost to death. His best friend Pierre, the son of a diplomat, wants to do the same for Erik, but after a while he can no longer stand it and leaves school.
After the teachers were made aware of the grievances by the departure of the most gifted pupil Pierre and thereupon found the pupils, especially Erik, to be complicit in Pierre's departure, Erik ended his non-violence and was beaten up in an official duel, and thus without a pretext for expulsion from school to deliver two members of the student board.
During the humiliation he had suffered, Erik came to the aid of the Finn Marja, who is employed as a kitchen helper in Stjärnsberg and with whom he has a secret love affair. Marja is fired when rumors about her relationship with Erik grow louder.
Marja, who has returned to Finland, writes Erik a letter with a declaration of love, which older students take away from him and which is the reason for his expulsion from Stjärnsberg. Before he is supposed to leave the school, he humiliates the chairman of the student board Silverhielm by threatening the latter with the appearance of killing him. The next day Erik changed his mind and did not accept the dismissal: he asked a lawyer friend for help, who threatened the director of Stjärnsberg with legal consequences and an announcement of the school's conditions in the press.
Erik can stay at school and graduate.
At home he can now present a leaving certificate that is very good except for one “unsatisfactory”, which ensures admission to the grammar school. When his stepfather wants to confront him and beat him up for the “unsatisfactory”, Erik uses violence “one last time”: he orders his stepfather to leave the apartment, announces to him (which he will probably do afterwards), both of him beforehand Breaking his arms and nose and threatening to publicly expose him in case the police are called in.
In the end, he briefly visits his friend Pierre, whom he informs that he will be working for a law firm in the summer.
reception
The lexicon of international films saw Evil as a “melodramatically overloaded story of revenge” and a “superficial drama built on stimulus and reaction” , in which only “the performance of the actors could convince” .
Awards (selection)
Evil was nominated for an Oscar in 2004 for " Best Foreign Language Film " , but it was left behind in Denys Arcand's The Barbarian Invasion . Mikael Håfström's film was nominated seven times at the award ceremony of the most important Swedish film award, the Guldbagge , and won against Björn Runge's favorite drama Om jag vänder mig om in the “ Best Film ” category . There were nominations for the actors Gustaf Skarsgård and Andreas Wilson , who was awarded for his portrayal of Erik Ponti at the Shanghai International Film Festival .
Web links
- Evil in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Evil (Faustrecht) in the Marie Richardson catalog (in English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Evil. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .