THE STUDENT

The enemies of God must be silenced! So says the Bible and Vanya, a young student who fiercely quotes Scripture at a world he sees as sinful and doomed. Vanya’s sermons and actions are increasingly disruptive at his school and baffling to his helpless mother. Elena, the school’s biology teacher, becomes a particular target of Vanya’s anger because she teaches sex education and evolution. Reactions to Vanya’s increasingly aggressive calls for a “cleansing in blood” are mixed. But not everybody is willing to simply regard him as a disturbed young man. You may take it on faith that THE STUDENT is bound to be one of the most controversial and incendiary films at the Festival this year. It strides boldly into the places where faith and fanaticism meet, unwilling to back down and unafraid to enrage. Superbly and intelligently crafted and willing to set off every trigger warning in sight, this is cinematic provocation of the richest and most compelling kind. Go forth and see it! (In Russian with subtitles) —C.R.