Polinger’s The Plague is haunting in its intensity, unnerving in its realism, and urgent in its discussions on the scars bullying leaves, scars that never fully heal for far too many kids as they become adults.
Many of us carry deep scars from our childhood and adolescence. Sometimes these scars are deep and easily reopen into wounds throughout our lives; other times, they heal but leave a reminder. Either way, many of us have them. Adults encourage the view that children are angelic, innocent, and unsure of their actions, even when we all know, from our own experiences, that many kids can be cruel, ruthless, and unrelenting in their hatred of other children.
As adults, we know that school corridors can be a deadly maze of bullying and intimidation, just as we know that school toilets can be a quiet, adult-free space to humiliate, attack or oppress. We know that far too many young people continue to be pushed into self-harm, and feelings of suicide and depression due to the toxic behaviours of other kids around them, usually forged through equally poisonous parenting. Yet we all too often choose to ignore these behaviours, with throwaway sayings like “kids will be kids” or unhelpful advice like “you need to stand up to people.” Adults are too often willing bystanders to the plague of bullying that surrounds them.
Charlie Polinger’s feature directorial debut, The Plague, premiered at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section, yet has remained strangely absent from many high-profile film festival lineups since. I say ‘strangely’ because The Plague is an unsettling, powerhouse of a movie with a stellar cast of emerging young talent, including Everett Blunck (Griffin in Summer), newcomers Kayo Martin, Kenny Rasmussen, Elliott Heffernan (Blitz), and more. Set at a water polo summer camp, with an ineffective leader (Joel Edgerton) and an evident absence of any meaningful adult supervision, we meet a group of twelve and thirteen-year-old boys thrown together for the summer.
Ben (Blunck) is a caring, considerate young boy who has recently moved from Boston and is keen to make some new friends. However, as Ben arrives, it quickly becomes apparent that a hierarchy has already formed among the boys, with a clear leader guiding their actions, the slippery, confident and manipulative Jake (Martin). Jake views Ben as an outsider who must prove himself to be accepted into the gang, and the other boys are pretty happy to go along with this if it cements their own safety and security. After all, nobody wants to end up like Eli (Rasmussen), the quiet boy who has ‘the plague’ and is isolated from the group at Jake’s command.
As Ben attempts to find his place and Jake’s approval, he goes along with the toxic treatment of Eli, treatment that humiliates, degrades and isolates Eli at every turn. The boys say he is covered in sores and spots (likely hives), and that touching him transfers the plague unless you wash vociferously. Charlie Polinger smartly uses the notion of a plague as a narrative tool to explore how the boys invent reasons to exclude others who don’t fit their pack mentality. It doesn’t matter if ‘the plague’ is real; all that matters is the fear of rejection and isolation it brings.
While Ben is desperate to be accepted, he is also troubled by the treatment of Eli, a boy who has shielded himself from the others and from reality as a defence mechanism. Eli is different, and likely that difference has seen him bullied his whole life. Ben knows the boy’s behaviour is wrong, and eventually reaches out to Eli in support, with the group ostracising him as a result. According to Jake, both Ben and Eli now have ‘the plague.’
Many reviews will likely compare Polinger’s film to classic stories like Lord of the Flies, and there are undoubtedly similarities in the exploration of peer pressure, the toxicity of control and the loss of innocence. But for me, The Plague, like Laura Wandel’s Playground (2001), is a tense, atmospheric, and cutting exploration of the plague of bullying that surrounds us, and of how kids form cruel games and cliques out of fear of isolation and a need for acceptance.
Based on Polinger’s own experiences of a summer camp in his early teens, but fictitious in its characters and story, the story may centre on early adolescent male behaviour, but the experiences relate to both girls and boys in the isolation and torment Ben and Eli face. After all, anyone who has worked with kids knows that girls can be equally as cruel as boys. In my view, this film isn’t about toxic male behaviour as some reviewers have suggested, but the toxicity of adults who would rather turn the other way or spout excuses than challenge the plague of bullying that leaves indelible scars on far too many of our kids: male and female.
Playing out like a horror, with cinematography that highlights the loneliness of rejection, fear of the pack mentality, and the uncertainty and panic of puberty, this is a movie that burrows into your memory. Tight shots highlight Ben’s emotions, trepidation, and fears as the swimming pool, changing rooms, dorms, and corridors of the leisure complex become a prison of no escape. The only peace comes from the pool, where adults watch the boys’ actions, and girls practice synchronised swimming, offering a short distraction amid the raging hormones. Yet even here, the pool’s low ambient underwater noises unnerve us.
Added to this exquisite sound design is Johan Lenox’s unconventional score of vocal fragments, percussion, and thumping beats, the silence of a changing room suddenly ruptured by bursts of sound that reflect the hormonal rollercoaster each boy is subject to and their fears of isolation from ‘the pack.’
With outstanding and emotionally intuitive performances from its young cast, led by Blunck, Martin and Rasmussen, Charlie Polinger’s feature directorial debut, like Laura Wandel’s Playground in 2021, is nothing short of formidable in its exploration of the horror of bullying. Polinger’s film is haunting in its intensity, unnerving in its realism, and urgent in its discussions on the scars bullying leaves, scars that never fully heal for far too many kids as they become adults.
The Plague is released in US cinemas on December 24, and is awaiting a United Kingdom release date.
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