Film Review: THE SIEGE AT THORN HIGH (2025): Steep Lessons Taught Through Trauma

The Siege at Thorn High Review

The Siege at Thorn High (2025) Film Review, a movie directed by Joko Anwar, written by Joko Anwar, and starring Morgan Oey, Omara N. Esteghlal, and Hana Malasan.

The Siege at Thorn High is more than an action thriller. It probes psychological and sociological terrain, asking whether inherited trauma from past violence is an inescapable force shaping one’s identity. Director/writer Joko Anwar treats nature versus nurture not as a plot point but as lived tension inside characters and their community.

The story follows Edwin (Morgan Oey), a substitute teacher who arrives at Thorn High searching for his missing nephew. Seventeen years after anti-Chinese riots scarred the city, a new eruption of violence traps Edwin and a group of students inside the school. As chaos grows, the film shows how collective memory and unhealed trauma surface through prejudice and fear.

The film depicts how childhood and community trauma ripple through lives. Edwin’s nephew and many students come from unstable homes, shaped by violence and broken family systems. The film respectfully dramatizes student behavior, peer dynamics, and tense interactions with authority on both a student and adult level.

The anti-Chinese riots are not mere backstory but a lens for understanding the present. Social identity seems to grow out of a sense of who we are not, rather than examining one’s own history and behavior. All parties partake in biases in whispers between neighbors, institutional prejudice, and the way students internalize stigmas. However, Anwar repeatedly draws our attention to violence begetting violence; when collective wounds go unaddressed, new atrocities are committed, thus continuing the cycle of aggression.

Enough social commentary, let’s look at Anwar’s filmmaking prowess. The sound design is deliberate and intimate. At key moments, ambient noise falls away, isolating voices, footsteps, or breathing. When screaming and scraping metal return, the impact is unmistakable and threatening. The soundtrack is eclectic, using pop songs to tint action with irony or unease. During quieter scenes, such as Edwin’s classroom lessons, the interplay of song and silence underscores the relationships between class and instructor.

Camera work is energetic without leaning on shaky-cam techniques. Cinematographer Ical Tanjung captures claustrophobic interiors with tight framing, while wide shots convey the riot’s scale. Additionally, the production value is strong: the school set feels authentic, the riot scenes expansive, and romantic lighting heightens the mood without spectacle for its own sake.

The script provides only essential history. Viewers are dropped into a world of anger without lengthy exposition. We learn enough about prejudice, institutional failure, and community silence to grasp the stakes while retaining ambiguity about how the original riot began or where blame should fall. Ethical themes such as social justice and anti-discrimination adopt the cinematic policy of show me, don’t tell me. 

One classroom scene has Edwin writing on the board, “Creat,” suggesting the opposite of war isn’t peace, it’s creation. Later, he instructs, “Today we will learn perspective, in drawing.” Despite the influence of one’s nurturing, every day is an opportunity to choose creation over anger. 

The film offers vibes of A Clockwork Orange (1971)  in its study of aggression, while its gore and machete-wielding violence reminded me more of 2015’s Green Room. One more piece of cinematic history worth mentioning is John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), an obvious cousin, searching for moral clarity amid urban threats. 

Ultimately, The Siege at Thorn High deserves your attention and questions. Violent trauma, whether it be sexual, psychological, or from childhood, it will shape one’s sense of self, while entrenched discrimination molds societal conduct. In the end, the story does affirm that resilience, supportive relationships, education, and creativity can resist the pull of inherited harm. The film avoids simple answers, acknowledging innate impulses toward fear or anger while emphasizing nurture as both a source of injury and the grounds for healing. As expressed in the film, “I can only do what I can to help.” For those drawn to action, the fight choreography satisfies; for viewers seeking psychological depth, history, or social critique, the rewards are even greater. 

Rating: 8/10  

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