Evil [Ondskan] **** (2003, Andreas Wilson, Henrik Lundström, Gustaf Skarsgård) – Classic Movie Review 12,898

The nightmarishly disturbing and distressing 2003 Swedish drama film Evil [Ondskan] is set in 1958 in an elite private boarding school in Stockholm, where student sadism and violence are the habitual way of life.

Director Mikael Håfström’s nightmarishly disturbing and distressing 2003 Swedish drama film Evil [Ondskan] is based on Jan Guillou’s 1981 semi-autobiographical novel, and stars Andreas Wilson, Henrik Lundström and Gustaf Skarsgård. The film is set in 1958 in a prestigious private boarding school in Stockholm, where student sadism and violence are the regular habitual way of life.

Andreas Wilson stars as 15-year-old Erik Ponti who is regularly beaten at home by his sadistic stepfather, is expelled as ‘evil’ from his regular school, and lands up in Stjärnsberg, a nightmare posh boarding school. He’s out of the sizzling frying pan into the burning fire.

Erik doesn’t stand a chance. Or does he? He’s physically strong, the school star swimmer. And he’s mentally strong, too. He hasn’t survived this long without learning how to be a survivor. The older school pupils of the Student’s Council are going to teach him a few more shockingly hard lessons, quite a few, before he finally finds ways to fight back.

Thanks to his appalling upbringing, Eric has violent tendencies and a sado-masochist personality. He has found a way to endure his endless beatings and humiliations, and that is not only stoically to take them, and wait till they are over, but seemingly actually to enjoy them.

At the school, 12 sixth-formers have formed a Student’s Council, exerting sadistic control and subjecting students to physical and psychological punishment. The disgusting teachers know what’s going on, but don’t care, maybe actually approve, allowing the older students to govern the younger ones, maybe so they don’t have to. Erik decides to stand up to ultra-sadistic council members Silverhielm (Gustaf Skarsgård) and Dahlén (Jesper Salén), and he becomes their number one target.

Unfortunately he drags his nice roommate into the mess too. Silverhielm and Dahlén try to get to Erik by harming his one friend. Erik’s warmly emotional relationship with his roommate Pierre Tanguy (Henrik Lundström) is developed significantly, in depth and at length. It is the heart and soul of the film. They look to each other for the love, affection and support they are denied everywhere else.

Other than swimming, Eric has a couple of bright spots in his life: his sympathetic, bookish roommate Pierre Tanguy (Henrik Lundström) who tries to adopt a low, humble profile to escape being bullied, and Marja (Linda Zilliacus), a sweet Finnish school cafeteria servant who feels sorry for him. OK, two friends and a hobby. Life’s not so bad then, eh? Well, no, because there’s the daily systematic beatings and humiliations.

When Eric decides to stand up to the prefects, and not do what he’s ordered, the proverbial really hits the fan. For the council members, it’s game on. And, in a sense, for Eric, that’s true too. Eric may be beaten, and maybe finally beaten, but he’s never going to give up, is he?

The film has its full complement of villains: his vile stepfather (Johan Rabaeus), his weak, frightened and pathetic mother (Marie Richardson) always in denial, the headmasters of both his regular school and his boarding school, and the ultra-sadistic council members Silverhielm (Gustaf Skarsgård) and Dahlén (Jesper Salén). These are good villains. Of course, it’s these guys who are the Evil of the title, not Erik.

And the hero? Eric is Luke in Cool Hand Luke, in this version of that story transferred to a Swedish school. The story is so extreme that it’s hard to believe it is happening. But if author Jan Guillou tells us it did, then we have to believe him. It’s all a long time ago in Sweden. I’m guessing that prestigious private boarding schools in Stockholm are now much more like the one in the Netflix Swedish teen TV show Young Royals, where any hint of a scandal is a scandal.

Andreas Wilson is excellent, very persuasive and sympathetic, though it is a slight problem that he doesn’t really look 15. (He was 22 on 7 March 2003.) Is it a problem that he looks like model boy? (He has been modelling for Abercrombie & Fitch.) Maybe not. He’s supposed to be the perfect Germanic physical type. All the other actors are ideal for their characters, giving strong performances, with Henrik Lundström warm and appealing as Pierre Tanguy and Gustaf Skarsgård exceptional as the super-slimy Silverhielm.

[Spoiler alert] Nightmarishly disturbing and distressing as the film is, it is fairly gruelling to watch, but is an ultimately rewarding experience. You so hope for a happy ending, and there is a kind of one, at least a hopeful one, the very kind of  one you know the film-makers have to provide, otherwise who would watch? The nature of its hopeful ending is kind of a surprise though. What’s going to happen to Eric? We absolutely need to know. There’s a moment when you think he’s gone bananas, has finally cracked, and prepared to do anything, even something that will destroy him as well as his enemies. But he stops short. And, in one brief second, engages brain instead.

Shooting took place in 30 days from early October to November 2002 and the film was at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2003, and released in cinemas in Sweden on 26 September 2003, a huge hit. It was released in the UK on 24 June 2005.

The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 76th Academy Awards, and won three Swedish Guldbagge Awards (the annual Swedish film awards), including Best Film, Best Cinematography and Best Production Design.

The school portrayed in the film is beyond reform. It needs to be closed down. And that’s what happened in real life. The Stjärnsberg school in the film is based on the Solbacka boarding school attended by author Jan Guillou, and was closed down in 1973, though the building survives, much changed. Exteriors were shot around Görväln House manor house in Jakobsberg, north of Stockholm. A replica of the original school’s dining hall was built in a studio, based on photographs from the time. The swim pool scenes were shot at the school Gubbängsskolan in southern Stockholm.

The cast are Andreas Wilson as Erik Ponti, Henrik Lundström as Pierre Tanguy, Gustaf Skarsgård as Otto Silverhielm, Linda Zilliacus as Marja, Jesper Salén as Gustaf Dalén, Peter Eggers as Karl von Rosen, Filip Berg as Johan, Johan Rabaeus as Erik’s stepfather, Marie Richardson as Erik’s mother, Magnus Roosmann as gym teacher Tosse Berg, Ulf Friberg as biology teacher Tranströmer, Lennart Hjulström as Stjärnsberg headmaster Lindblad, Mats Bergman as history teacher Melander, Kjell Bergqvist as lawyer Gunnar Ekengren, Björn Granath as headmaster, Fredrik af Trampe as von Schenken, and Petter Darin as von Seth.

Gustaf Skarsgård was born in Stockholm on 12 November 1980 to Stellan Skarsgård and his first wife, My, a physician. He has five siblings: Alexander, Sam, Bill, Eija and Valter,

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 12,898

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