Indignation is a harsh, fiery word which means to feel righteous anger, to bristle with outrage at injustice. It has immense capacity to make blood pressure and stomach acid levels to rise sharply. These are just the physical reactions a viewer is likely to have while watching the well-crafted coming-of-age drama with the apt title Indignation.
In this emotionally charged story we follow twenty year-old college freshman Marcus Messner (played by Logan Lerman) who goes against the grain of a small Ohio college town in 1951. The scholarship allowing him to get away from overbearing parents (his father in particular) and the dreariness of Newark, New Jersey turns out to be a liability in ways Marcus could not have foreseen.
His first unintentional but serious misstep at Winesburg College is the unconventional relationship he develops with fellow student Olivia Hutton (played by Sarah Gadon) who is struggling through mental health issues. Messner’s naïveté in this instance marks the start of a downward spiral he can’t shake free of.
A series of unfortunate events follow which results in Messner running afoul of the rigid, bullying Dean Caudwell. Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of Indignation is that Messner is mercilessly berated by the dean in their first encounter mainly for his desire to remain a private person away from disruptive roommates, for being an atheist, favoring the beliefs of a philosopher who was objectionable to the dean, and having other unpopular views during an era of enforced socialization and expectations of conformity to convention on what seems to be every conceivable range of political and social issues.
From a twenty first century standpoint where a glaring spotlight focuses on calling out bullies, watching this happen to an introverted student from someone in a position of the privilege and power that Dean Caudwell has, makes the bullying and victimization even more egregious. This terrible episode causes Messner to have an intense physical reaction which results in his hospitalization. That says nothing though to the effect on Messner’s psyche due to this mistreatment.
Although Indignation is fictitious, based on the 2008 autobiographical novel from Philip Roth of the same title, it can be viewed as a very real composite of how repressive, rigid, and smothering college life could be in the 1950s. The film version handles this subject matter quite convincingly, as Messner becomes an unnecessarily casualty of a period that greatly feared individualism and freedom of thought.
During this strained, tense period in American history anyone proclaiming “liberal” or “progressive” views could be pegged as a communist – tantamount to being pegged as a pedophile or racist in the 21st century. Accusations of being a communist isn’t even what derails Messner’s undergraduate career, but his second battle with Dean Caudwell seals his fate. During this final round the allegations run the gamut from evading chapel services to raping and impregnating Olivia. In any event, the battles with Dean Caudwell prove to be an uneven contest with Messner being kicked out of school, the termination of enrollment results in him being drafted into the army and shipped off to fight in Korea.
Indignation then comes full circle. Our hapless hero tries to protect himself and avoid conflict only to be thrown into a greater one. Logan Lerman gives a solid performance as a beleaguered student who dares to defy the oppression of an arrogant authority figure and Tracy Letts (Dean Caudwell) plays his role quite convincingly, thus making it easy for the viewer to realize how intricately indignation is linked to intolerance and injustice.
Although this bitter tale takes place seven decades ago it is quite relevant now. What happened to Marcus Messner is much like the cancel culture intolerance of today. There should be a great deal more indignation at the bullying and intolerance that occurs in our own so-called “enlightened” era. With the pervasive age of anti-social media many people are more likely to be victimized by their peers (especially in the higher education environment) for unpopular speech and beliefs which could ruin their lives than by any authority figures who, by the way, also get caught in the crosshairs of cancel culture. On the other hand, in today’s volatile social and political climate it should also be kept in mind that the higher up the ladder you move – the harder you will fall when running afoul of the morality police.
