THE PLAGUE

Twelve year old Ben (Everett Blunck) is sent to an all boys live-in water polo camp for his 2003 summer break. He arrives for the second session and finds that several boys who stayed on from the first stint have already established a clique. Shy and socially anxious, Ben quickly realises that some of his new team mates are bullies who also over-sexualise everything. Their main target is Eli (Kenny Rasmussen), an introverted boy clearly on the spectrum. They relentlessly mock his skin condition, calling him “The Plague” and isolating him from the group. Their nameless coach (fabulously played by Joel Edgerton who is also a producer) intervenes when he catches the boys playing up, but adult supervision is otherwise non-existent. Edgertons time on screen is brief, totalling around 15 minutes, and he’s the only adult actor with a speaking role, heightening the fact that most of the boys behaviour goes unchecked. Desperate to fit in, Ben initially participates in the nastiness, before the tide turns and he becomes a target of the abuse himself. He learns a harsh lesson about conforming to peer pressure and the weight of toxic masculinity. This psychological drama isn’t a horror movie but it cleverly feels and sounds like one. Long lingering scenes of bodies flailing in the pool and empty indoor spaces with jarring music create an anxious atmosphere where you can feel the tension building and know it’s about to pop off. The casting is excellent, particularly the performances of Blunck and Rasmussen. Using the sport of water polo as the central metaphor is a nuanced choice – it’s known for the brutal, hidden physicality that occurs beneath the water’s surface, much like the social dynamics of the boys. This film leaves viewers asking “What is the plague?” Is it the boys themselves, the onset of puberty or their acts of cruelty? A hauntingly dark coming of age tale that’s brilliantly executed. Think ‘Lord of the flies’ but in the pool.