![]() ![]() Both characters turn to violence as a release, but this in turn increases their fear, in a self-perpetuating cycle not unlike drug addiction. King invites us inside these two people's heads, and what we see are two individuals lacking in guilt but filled with fear, haunted by the threat of exposure. Todd once did a research paper on the camps and greatly impressed his teachers, who don't realize he is fascinated by the subject for all the wrong reasons. ![]() Instead of turning him in, Todd blackmails him into recounting his hideous crimes. A pampered suburban youth named Todd Bowden discovers that an elderly neighbor of his is an escaped Nazi commandant named Kurt Dussander. ![]() He not only had to present a believable Nazi, he also had to confront the question of what makes people evil, all the while telling a compelling story about two unsympathetic characters who are surrounded by idiots. But I was also impressed that he tackled material this challenging. Reading the novella at this late stage brought into focus all the things I've always admired about Stephen King: his vivid imagination, his sharp attention to detail, his perverse sense of humor, and his mastery at crafting a battle of wills between two characters. The novella is a meditation on the nature of evil, whereas the movie is more of a thriller. Despite a superb performance by Ian McKellen, the filmmakers made a number of choices which hurt the integrity of the story. The first thing I need to make clear is that the novella "Apt Pupil" is much better than the 1998 movie adaptation. ![]()
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