TOM BROWN'S SCHOOLDAYS

Even the good guys in this movie make you want to tear your hair out sometimes.

In the realm of human existence, I'm thinking that an English childhood in the 1800's was just about rock bottom. If Charles Dickens and Frances Hodgson Burnett haven't left you with a bleak enough outlook on this era, Thomas Hughes has got you covered with Tom Brown's Schooldays. The 2005 film adaptation of his novel proves that no matter how hellish your schooldays may have been, boys in 19th Century Britain had it worse.

Upon arrival at Rugby Public School, Tom Brown (Alex Pettyfer) is confronted with the brutal reality of school life. Older students bully the younger ones mercilessly, and no one bothers to intervene. Teachers just pack up and head for home at the end of the day, leaving the boys to govern themselves in the manner of wild animals. After years of torture and humiliation, the victims grow into bullies, and the cycle begins again.

Though the younger boys rally together, they're outweighed and outnumbered at every turn. Flashman, the leader of the older boys, is practically the most disgusting person who ever lived, and looks like the bastard son of Bob Geldof and Buster Poindexter. He's the portrait of debauchery, and he's played so convincingly by Joseph Beattie that I can't guarantee I won't sock him in the stomach if I ever meet him on the street. To make matters worse, his father is wealthy and influential, so there's almost no hope of stopping him.

Things finally begin to look up when Doctor Thomas Arnold (Stephen Fry) takes over as headmaster. He realizes that the boys need something resembling parental supervision while they're away at school, and he does his best to establish structure in their lives. He disciplines them as fairly as he can, but there's little he can do about Flashman.

Of course, Flashman never hesitates to rub it in—"Do you know who I am? Do you know who my father is?" His capacity for evil increases with each passing day, and after awhile I actually wanted to do him bodily harm. The doctor feels the same, but it takes ages for him to put his foot down and expel the little punk. Even the good guys in this movie make you want to tear your hair out sometimes.

Meanwhile, little Tom Brown survives as well as he can. He's no angel, but guided by the gentle hand of Dr. Arnold, he sees that he can set an example for the others by mentoring younger students. He befriends a particularly frail boy who is constantly harassed for praying before bed, being small, and existing in general. (What were his parents thinking to leave a kid with a heart condition in a place like this?!)

Though Tom is unable to protect his little friend from the evils of Rugby School, his loyalty never wavers. By defying tradition, Tom makes a difference in another child's life, and he takes an important step toward making Rugby School a civil place. Change won't happen overnight, but after all this bleakness and frustration, there is hope. It's not quite the fairy tale ending Dickens and Burnett liked to offer, but Hughes' social commentary resonates all the more because he remains firmly rooted in reality.