The Student

Using Marius von Mayenburg's 2012 German play Märtyrer as a springboard, writer-director Kirill Serebrennikov transforms it into a darkly satirical commentary on what is happening in Russia under Vladimir Putin, particularly post-Communist Russia's lurch from official atheism to renewed religiosity. At a school in provincial Kaliningrad, teen Veniamin (Petr Skvortsov) becomes so affected by a course taught by an Orthodox priest that he embraces scriptural fundamentalism, protesting not only the overly revealing swimsuits of his classmates but the presentation of evolutionary theory in the biology class taught by Elena (Victoria Isakova). He also recruits a disciple, Grigoriy (Aleksandr Gorchilin), whose handicap—one of his legs is shorter than the other—Veniamin attempts to cure through the laying on of hands. Veniamin's newfound fanaticism drives his mother (Julia Aug) to distraction, and forces Elena to undertake such intensive study of the Bible in order to rebut his arguments that her boyfriend leaves in disgust. Meanwhile, the school administrators, anxious to avoid disorder, urge Elena to compromise by teaching creationism as an alternative. When the inevitable showdown between faith and reason arrives, it is not pretty (homophobia and anti-Semitism are added to the mix). While Serebrennikov's primary target is Putin's use of religion for political ends, he also raises numerous issues that, given the rise of fundamentalism in various forms across the globe, carry universal relevance. A bleakly funny and powerful film, this is highly recommended. (F. Swietek)