Way back in 1986 corporal punishment in schools was banned and for the deputy headmaster who normally administered the punishment was a sad day that they now had to redirect their BDSM fetish elsewhere. The subject of what the rest of the class hoped would be a near fatal beating was usually a feral disruptor that today would be attributed to ADD rather than him being a right little sod and in Bad Apples its Danny (Eddie Waller) an uncontrollable mullet haired monster that his teacher Maria (Saoirse Ronan) can’t control curtailed by a combination of a lack of authority and inhibited by red tape that never seemed to be a problem for those teachers of the 1970’s where a day was not complete without smacking a pupil across the back of the head with a blackboard rubber.
How to deal with Bad Apples….
But for Maria she finally breaks when she catches Danny smashing car windows and wrestles him to the ground to stop him and in the process accidently injures him. And that’s where her dilemma begins. Take him to hospital or home and either way that will be her job gone. So her solution? Take him to her house and lock him in her basement. But what should be the start of her problems initially is the answer to her prayers – her class thrives and her working day is fulfilling. But then teacher’s pet Pauline (Nia Brown), all bottle bottom glasses, frizzy hair and suck up attitude proves to be the new thorn in her side when she finds out where Danny is and Maria finds herself at the child’s mercy. Pauline is another one of those bad apples who turns out to be an even bigger danger.
Rotten to the core?
Based on the novel The Unwanted the story relocates to the UK from Sweden and is darkly comic and yet there’s a lot to sympathize with Maria. Even Danny has rare moments of humanity suggesting that he is redeemable. Perhaps below the surface of this all is social commentary that a disruptive minority spoils things for the majority. There’s a lot to enjoy here: the central three performances are terrific (and in fairness when has Ronan been anything but) and Waller and especially Brown are stars in the making. It doesn’t have quite the conviction to go all the way dark to the end but it’s a lot of fun getting there.
related feature : William Sadler on Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey: “The making was crazy!”
related feature : How they found the new Karate Kid……
We chat to director Jonatan Etzler about the film…….
Here’s the Bad Apples trailer…..
Bad Apples is in UK cinemas 18th September 2026
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