Synopsis
The Student (Uchenik, 2016) is a Russian drama from Kirill Serebrennikov, available to watch online on iFILM. High-schooler Veniamin decides the world has drowned in sin and sets out to save everyone around him — Bible in hand, doubt nowhere in sight.
He refuses to swim with the girls in class, hurls scripture back at his teachers, and rails against Darwin and sex education. At first it reads like a phase. Then the boy's religious fervor starts tearing the school apart, turning the adults against one another and edging toward real harm. Only Elena, a young biology teacher, dares to push back. Pyotr Skvortsov and Viktoriya Isakova carry that duel to its breaking point.
Serebrennikov adapted German playwright Marius von Mayenburg's stage work and brought the film to Cannes' Un Certain Regard in 2016. Where does faith end and fanaticism begin, when does preaching curdle into terror — the film asks hard and refuses to hand over answers. Made for viewers who want cinema that argues back. Stream The Student (2016) online on iFILM.
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