Is it possible for a person to be an accessory after the fact to a crime that was committed twenty-four years before they were born? This is one of the questions that the film "Apt Pupil" asks. But, the film does more than this. It is a thought-provoking film which demonstrates the potential for evil that exists in human beings. .
The story is about a teenage boy, Todd Bowmen, a straight "A" student who has lettered in sports. He is fascinated with the holocaust, a subject he is studying in sociology class. One day, when going home on the bus, he recognizes an old Nazi war criminal named Kurt Dussander, a.k.a. Arthur Denker. Todd goes to the old man's house and tells him that he will not report him in exchange for stories about the old man's duties in the concentration camps. Todd becomes the "apt" pupil because the old Nazi is the catalyst that encourages the growth of the boy's dark side. .
WARNING: This review analyzes the message in the film by looking at the characters, the themes, and the plot. To do this it is necessary to look at the entire story, beginning to end. Therefore, if you have not seen the film, please stop reading now; then, after you've seen the film, please come back. .
The film opens in a high school sociology class in which the topic is the holocaust. The first thing we hear is the teacher summing up his lesson:.
And still the question remains? Was it economic, was it social, or was it simply a matter of human nature? What is it that made some people do what they did and other people to do nothing at all?.
This is the key question the film attempts to answer. It does so through the symbol of the open door. The open door is established early in the film: .
TODD: What did it feel like?.
DUSSANDER: It was just something that had to be done. A door had been opened and couldn't be shut. It was the end. You don't understand.
Opening the door represents, first, the specific unleashing of evil within Hitler's Germany.
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