Swedish filmmaker Mikael Hafstrom directs the coming-of-age drama Ondskan (Evil), based on the autobiographical novel by Jan Guillou. In the mid-'50s, teenager Erik Ponti (Andreas Wilson) suffers serious abuse at the hands of his father (Johan Rabaeus). He translates the violence at home to school, eventually getting himself expelled for fighting. His mother (Marie Richardson) struggles to come up with the money to send him to a private school, where the senior boys brutally haze the juniors in a ritualistic tradition. Erik makes enemies with senior Otto Silverheim (Gustaf Skarsgård), but, fortunately, finds friendship with Pierre (Henrik Lundstrom) and romance with Marja (Linda Zilliacus). Evil was screened at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.
~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide