The Innocents

In Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations (1861), the protagonist Pip encounters a bully. The slightly older boy from a higher class challenges Pip to a fight, and then proceeds to pull at Pip’s hair, kick him, and drive his head into Pip’s stomach—all as a way for the victor to earn the favor of Miss Havisham. Dickens returns to this encounter later in the book, when he reveals the bully’s identity as Herbert Pocket, who becomes Pip’s longtime, rather peaceable friend. The point is, the violence explored in childhood or even adolescence isn’t always indicative of some disordered personality traits. Some children grow out of it and become well-adjusted adults. They experiment with violence only to recoil from it, having tested their limits and found a boundary they’ll never approach again. On the other hand, sometimes these behaviors, combined with abuse at home and other warning signs, such as animal cruelty and antisocial tendencies, provide the perfect conditions to spawn a psychopath. Both cases occur in Eskil Vogt’s The Innocents, a chilling Norwegian film about a group of children who discover they have supernatural powers.

The full review is currently exclusive to Patreon subscribers. To read it, you can purchase individual access. Or you can join Deep Focus Review’s Patron community, where you’ll receive exclusive access to this and many other reviews, essays, and blogs published only on Patreon.

Patrons also get access to:

• A newsletter every Monday
• Streaming recommendations every Friday
• Polls to pick the movies reviewed on Deep Focus Review and Patreon
• Access to the open AMA and DFR Community