Indignation

USA 1951, the hysteria of the McCarthy era characterizes the mood, young men are threatened with military service in Korea. Marcus Metzner, a native of New Jersey, is all the more relieved when he gets a place to study in Ohio. Acceptance into the college saves him from enlistment. It also allows him to escape his domineering father, who runs a kosher butcher shop and suffers from paranoid fears. But even in college, everyday life is not easy. Competitive battles, class differences, love adventures and Marcus’ refusal to at least attend synagogue as an avowed atheist in the Christian-run college earn him repeated summonses from the dean.

The directorial debut of James Schamus, one of the most important independent film producers in the USA, is based on the novel of the same name by Philip Roth. Already in his productions, Schamus showed a special sense for so-called outsiders who try to defy social structures. In Indignation, the conversations with the dean turn into speech duels in which a young man confidently represents his moral and political ideals. But can he live them?