What makes it different from others?

Such a frustrating disappointment

Dreadfully Boring

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

I would like to applaud the person who wrote the summary for Indignation since it peaked my curiosity and got me to watch the film. However, after the end credits rolled I went back and reread it only to feel somewhat shortchanged. Here it is:"In 1951, Marcus, a working-class Jewish student from New Jersey, attends a small Ohio college, where he struggles with sexual repression and cultural disaffection, amid the ongoing Korean War."Let's begin with the sexual repression angle. There is almost none. The greatest form of repression comes from within the main character, Marcus. He is sexually inexperienced and therefore doesn't know how to deal with the forward ways of a fellow classmate named Olivia. That's all it is. Nobody tells him he can't go on dates. Even his parents encourage him to do so, albeit in a smothering sort of way. He is later told that he can no longer see Olivia but not because of "you are jewish she isn't" or "not before you are married" arguments. The reason is laughable but we'll get back to that in a moment. The only possible manifestation of sexual repression that could occur but doesn't is regarding the theatrical roommate who is referred to as "queer" although this is never confirmed since he is after all only a secondary character and we need time for...Cultural disaffection? Where? The exchange with the college dean? It takes up a great big chunk of screen time only to go in circles, never land any lasting point of contention on Marcus's behalf and ends with what I considered to be a joke. How about the atheist amongst jews and christians aspect? Nope, that's never tackled either. In fact, Marcus even goes and joins the jewish fraternity, a lazy plot device to get him kicked out of college later.As for the Korean War, it might be the most important part of the narrative but in a roundabout sort of way the likes I have never seen before. Crudely summed up it goes something like this: Young men die in the war; Marcus's father is upset by this and at his son's departure for college; Marcus's father become erratic and temperamental (this is delivered to us secondhand so we don't even feel invested in this part of the story); Marcus's mother wants to divorce him; she agrees not to BUT, and this is where we enter soap opera territory, only if Marcus stops seeing Olivia because she cut her wrist; Olivia leaves suddenly; Marcus is in distress over this and drops the F bomb in front of the dean; Marcus doesn't attend a mandatory chapel session once and gets kicked out of college; he goes to war and dies. Still with me? If these events seem like they don't connect naturally to one another it's because they don't. The Korean war is used as a means to an end rather than as having any meaningful impact on the characters throughout the film.For the entire duration of my viewing I was waiting desperately for it to pick up a proper pace, to deal with something more than just the outré reaction of getting a bj on a first date in a car but, sadly, it it never delivered. I will give it this: the title is apt though not for the movie itself but rather for the lingering sensation one gets as the screen fades to black.

After reading the novel and watching the film on four different occasions, I am constantly blown away. Missing from the film are the section headings in the novel, chief which is the first section, entitled: Morphine--and this gets your mind thinking one way, while by the end you realize what really happens. There are hints throughout the film, including the Korean War scene briefly at the beginning; the R.O.T.C.students parading in widely separated scenes; and by the so-called dream monologue after his surgery where he reveals the secret of the film. The film and book preset the finest dialogue I've ever heard in any recent films. The confrontations between Marcus and the Dean are priceless and appeal to thoughtful viewers everywhere.One nasty scene in the book had to be excised from the film, as it presents a sordid and incredulous display of sexual lust as Marcus' gay roommate masturbates all over Marcus' single room.Finally, who are the indignant characters in the film? One could say that nearly all the characters are indignant. Marcus is the master of indignation as he protest the manipulation of his actions by the Dean, who is co-master of indignation, as all his beliefs are debunked by Marcus. Olivia is driven to a nervous breakdown, partly because Marcus is forced to reject her. Marcus' mother is greatly indignant because of her husband's erratic behavior. The nurse who watches the hand job by Olivia. And so on.Finally, has anyone mentioned the profession of Marcus' father? Butcher. One who cuts and slices meat--just like the slaughtering in the Korean War. Nice touch!

Social Sanction is a reality in our postmodern multicultural context. Daily people are asked to assimilate and in their best interest it would be easier for everyone if they found a way to do that without being compromised. Asking someone to assimilate should never be this brash a process and people need to be able to find their maturity without being patronized to the point of hospitalization. A comment was made in the behind the scenes script, 'a life and death scene' and the film itself expounds that wonderfully. A point presented with sophistication and clarity, enjoyed it from the first moment to the last.

This is nearly a perfectly executed movie. The acting by all the main characters is excellent. It is pensive and slow,but not is a way that causes the viewer to be uninterested. In fact I watched several scenes,several times.A young,very bright Jewish man receives a scholarship to a Christian college in 1951. He is openly atheist and angry he must endure chapel and thinking in general from others of a primitive thinking nature. But he is a buthcher's son and this is his chance to ve mich more,the world is at his fingertips. He,himself is young and naive,especially when it comes to women. However he meets a beautiful precocious women with some emotional problems and a reputation. Never the less he is taken with her as she is with him. The story revolves around his relationship with her as well as the students and a especially an ingratiating forcefully conservative Dean played extremely well by Tracy Letts.Many will find this too thoughtful,too pensive,too slow. It is simply not the kind of movie many usually see today. Certainly not like what most rush off to see at the theaters with 3D glasses,action,thrills and CGI. It simply isn't that kind of movie. This is what we use to call a film. This one is for the thinkers. Intelligent,disturbing,thoughtful. 4 stars.