Directed by:
Ulrika BengtsCinematography:
Robert NordströmComposer:
Peter HägerstrandCast:
Erik Enge, Patrik Kumpulainen, Niklas Groundstroem, Amanda Ooms, Ping Mon H. Wallén, Philip Zandén, Alfons Röblom, Sampo Sarkola, Anna Maria PiePlots(1)
Karl, a boy from an orphanage, is sent to a small island to live with the local lighthouse keeper and his family as an assistant. Hasselbond, a strict and stern guardian, initially refuses to take Karl on because he's not strong enough to do the job, but the boy soon becomes a friend of Gustav, Hasselbond's son, who wants him as an ally against his tyrannical father. But ...Karl will do anything not to be sent back to the orphanage. Due to his unquestioning obedience and execution of orders, Hasselbond begins to like him, which brings out Gustav's hostility. A thrilling drama with an impressive setting and an evocative soundtrack that emphasizes the polarized relationship between the boys and the despotic father. (Days of European Film)
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Reviews (2)
If you want to visit a small, isolated lighthouse island where there is no shelter from a tyrannical dad and take a look into the cruel Nordic fates of his wife and children, The Disciple will deliver. Although the story is not original, it is well told and the atmosphere of the island is compelling.
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While it stinks of Haneke as its conductor, thanks in particular the isolated family terror using minimalist means (except for a beautiful scene of a flaming piano), the problem with the film is that it maneuvers on its battlefield with a completely uninventive war tactic that only a slightly more progressive general would immediately see through and successfully counter. Unfortunately, the handling of character archetypes here is so transparent as to be comparable, for example, to a viewer with a lack of higher cinematic education comparing every unpleasant isolationist film to an overcooked Haneke.
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