THE PLAGUE is about the pestilence of persistent and prevailing bullying, that stubborn stain of the human condition.
The film opens with a shot of a pool stand, the calm, still waters belying the coming storm. One by one, the bodies of boys plunge into the pool, and start swimming vigorously like a squadron of sperm. It is a biological immage that proclaims we are entering the manosphere.
The pack mentality that dominates group settings for children renders conformity a survival imperative and young Ben understands this as a recent transplant attending the Tom Lerner Water Polo Academy for the first time. He instantly recognises that the domineering Jake is the ringleader in their ecosystem, and the quiet Eli is the designated punching bag.
Owing to a skin condition, Jake and his cronies have started a rumour that Eli has a contagious plague and continually ostracise him, yet Eli, at least on the surface, appears strangely unbothered by their bullying. Is his apparent placidity a symptom of his illness? Jake and his hench certainly believe so, while their well-meaning, parable preaching coach is empathetic but ineffectual in stemming this dermal demonising.
Joel Edgerton adds his marquee value as the Coach but it is Everett Blunck as Ben and Kayo Martin as Jake who fuel the drama of THE PLAGUE with Kenny Rasmussen in the pivotal portrayal of Eli.
Writer director Charlie Polinger’s feature debut splashes about in the deep currents of puberty black and blues, the piss and puss of the perps and the picked upon, the plague that infects all of us, the bacillus that remains into adulthood, killing kindness and kindling kowtow.
With its breathy sound design and fluid cinematography, THE PLAGUE is an impressive addition to the coming-of-age canon, a ‘Lord of the Flies’ with a modern sting on the sink or swim.
