Indignation, written and directed by James Schamus, based on a novel by Philip Roth, is the finest film I’ve seen so far this year.
The film takes place during the Korean War. Marcus Messner (Logan Lerman), the son of a Jewish butcher in New Jersey, escapes the draft by being accepted into a Christian liberal arts college in Ohio. There he meets Olivia Hutton (Sarah Gadon), who comes from an upper class family in Ohio. The two become romantically involved, but it becomes increasingly clear that Olivia is suffering from psychological problems. (She admits to Marcus that she once tried to kill herself.) At the same time, Marcus has to deal with the college dean, Hawes Caudwell (Tracy Letts), who exhibits a patronizing moralism, while at the same time expressing a creepy curiosity about Marcus’s personal life.
Indignation is an indictment of moral hypocrisy and religious narrow-mindedness. It is an emotionally powerful film with a shattering ending. It was particularly affecting to me, because I was once in a relationship that was similar in some ways to the relationship between Marcus and Olivia. I’m told that the Philip Roth novel on which this film is based is semi-autobiographical. One of the purposes of art is to remind people that we are not alone. Experiences that we may think are odd or inexplicable may well have happened to other people.
Indignation is a great film.
The Spanish Prisoner 