A chilling new film from director Jan Komasa presents a stark and unsettling vision of societal correction gone horribly awry. The story centers on a couple who take it upon themselves to forcibly reform a delinquent teenager they deem a public menace.
Chris, a middle-aged man with a fervent belief in traditional values and road safety, becomes obsessed with the online persona of Tommy, a wildly successful but deeply troubled social media star. Tommy’s life, funded by his viral videos of reckless behavior, is a whirlwind of stolen cars, substance abuse, and hedonism. Disgusted by what he sees, Chris orchestrates the young man’s abduction.
Tommy awakens imprisoned in the basement of Chris’s secluded country home. There, he is subjected to a brutal system of behavior modification devised by his captor. Rewards, like an extended chain to reach a toilet, are balanced against punishments meted out with a baton and Taser. Chris’s stated goal is to mold Tommy into a “good boy,” a suitable surrogate son and a moral example for their own eerily compliant young child, Jonathan.
The film delves into the psychological warfare at play within the household. Chris’s wife, Kathryn, exists as a spectral, depressed figure, while their son maintains a mask of terrified obedience. The narrative’s most disturbing moments often lie in the quiet, domestic scenes of suppressed dread, suggesting the couple’s project is less about saving a stranger and more about fulfilling a deep, personal pathology.
As the “training” progresses, a twisted new normal begins to take hold. Tommy shows signs of acclimatization, and Kathryn tentatively emerges from her shell. The film forces viewers to question who is truly being broken and remade in this grim experiment, and what monstrous forms of control can be justified in the name of creating virtue. Anchored by powerful central performances, the film builds to a conclusion that is as thought-provoking as it is deeply unsettling.
