Lets be honest here for a second, kids nowadays (teenagers mostly) are little fucking shits. We all know it, we read in the papers all the time about the little hell beasts beating on the elderly, vandalizing things and, more closely related to this film, being to dicks to teachers to the point of violence.
I really enjoyed The Lesson, it is a mix of thriller and mild torture horror on and indie budget which does so much more than bigger budget films do. The Lesson is...well an actual Lesson. Its a lesson of unlocking your hidden potential of the individual. It shows that not all kids are born bad but the events that happen around them can model a person to be what they are. Fin (played by Evan Bendall) isn't particularly a bad kid, his mother tried to bring him up well and he has a kind soul hidden deep down, a intelligence which Mr Gale (Played by Nigel Slater sound alike Robert Hands...No seriously it is eerily similar) plans to torture out of him. On the other side of the coin Joel is a little shit and got what was owed to him from Mr Gale!!
The acting is okay, the characters who need to be good are good, Bendall, Hands and Coltart play their roles perfectly. The only real complaint is the final 10 minutes could have been cut in my personal opinion, however I suppose it is a good thing that it isn't your usual 'survivors walk away, fade to black' kind of ending either. Ruth Platt has given us an amazing film, a true thriller with a lesson to give. A great debut feature film and I am excited to see what else she has in store.