Villainy comes in the caped form of Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn, whose seething callousness and
desperate lust for power make him a truly malevolent figure (though his human frailties are exposed in one memorable encounter with a certain Imperial Lord).
This riveting allegory, in the tradition of Lord of the Flies, starts as a simple
power play within a children's classroom, but turns into a chilling tale about the
lust for power and
desperate need
for acceptance that reside within us all.