5. Kurt Dussander - Apt Pupil (1998)
Todd, a bright 16 year old boy, discovers that his neighbour is a fugitive Nazi war criminal - Kurt Dussander. He blackmails Dussander into giving him gory and gruesome stories about the Third Reich and the Holocaust in particular. Todd becomes obsessed with Dussander - purchasing him a Nazi uniform and letting his girlfriend and good grades go down the toilet. As the film progresses, Dussander's inherently evil nature comes through - he tries to kill a cat in his oven and he collapses with a heart attack whilst trying to kill a hobo who saw him in uniform. In the hospital he is recognised by a death camp survivor. The police question Todd but he denies all knowledge of Dussander. A group of Neo Nazis gather outside of the hospital and Dussander kills himself. Apt Pupil is a fascinating meditation on the nature of evil. Many average people took part in The Final Solution because they were expected to. But we must also remember the role of psychopaths and sadists - like Dussander. Although he has lived a quiet life after he fled punishment in post-Nazi Germany, Dussander begins to enjoy telling Todd about his murderous activities. Whenever he dons the Nazi regalia, he starts marching and gives a salute - this is the scariest part of the movie because it is like the intervening decades since World War Two have not elapsed. Dussander brings all of the evil of Nazi Germany to the present day. After that, his true murderous Nazi self has its bloodlust awakened and he resorts to trying to kill a cat and a derelict. Sir Ian McKellen is excellent in his role of a Nazi monster and imbues the character with multiple levels of evil keeping us glued to the screen and horrified for the duration of the movie.