Rising Star Logan Lerman Is Brilliant as Torn College Student in ‘Indignation’

Sandra Miska

Nicholas Sparks meets J.D. Salinger in ‘Indignation,’ a tragic coming of age story adapted from the Philip Roth novel.  Actor Logan Lerman, best known for his roles in “Fury” and the “Percy Jackson” films, stars as Marcus Messner, the only son in a middle class Jewish New Jersey family who leaves home to attend college in small-town Ohio.

The film opens with the death of a young American soldier in battle in Korea. Cut to a funeral of Marcus’ high school friends. Lucky for Marcus, he is heading off to college, making him ineligible for the draft. Marcus has been awarded a scholarship to the fictional Winesburg College, an institute of higher education in Ohio. “How will you keep kosher?” the mother of his dead friend asks with concern.

Marcus arrives to Winesburg, which proves to be just as big of a WASP nest as the folks back home imagined (there are about 80 Jewish students out of a student body of 1,400). Due to a school policy that rooms students of the same faith together, Marcus finds himself bunking with oddballs Flusser (Ben Rosenfield) and Foxman (Phillip Ettinger).

The freshman initially focuses all of his energy on his studies and part-time job at the library, eschewing sports and the Greek life, despite being aggressively recruited for a Jewish fraternity by golden boy Sonny Cottler (Pico Alexander), whose good lucks and upper class background has helped him to the top of the social ladder.

One bright spot in Marcus’ life is his attraction to Olivia Hutton (Sarah Gadon), the daughter of a wealthy surgeon. Despite their different backgrounds, Olivia returns his affections. Olivia is presented as a stereotypical damaged girl. Beautiful and tragic, she previously attempted suicide and was sent to rehab for drinking.  Marcus eventually realizes his true feelings for her, but is further tested when his mother Esther (Linda Emond) pays a visit and insists he ends the budding romance.

Fed up with his roommates, Marcus transfers to another room, an action that piques the curiosity the school’s dean, Caudwell (Tracy Letts), and the two go head to head in an epic battle of the wits. Marcus, a Jew by birth who now identifies as an atheist, takes issue with the college’s mandatory chapel attendance policy. He quotes Nobel Prize winner Bertrand Russell, a social critic, mathematician and liberal, which only further incites the dean.

Overall, “Indignation” offers an interesting glimpse into college life in a bygone era and highlights what’s changed and what really hasn’t. Marcus can be a frustrating character to watch, as he is the intellectual superior to most of the others he encounters, but Lerman, who surely has a big career ahead of him, does a great job of making him sympathetic. The supporting cast, especially Gadon, Letts, Burstein and Emond, are equally superb. For those who appreciate the visual side of period films, another highlight is the 1950s costumes and sets.

“Indignation” opens July 29 in select theaters.