Something that is so overlooked in Like Minds (2006) is the irrefutable fact that Nigel was being sexually abused by his mother and, likely, physically abused by his father.
So here's my comprehensive breakdown of that. Let's start at the beginning.
(Apologies for the pisspoor quality, I sniped these off the internet.)
It's stated multiple times throughout the movie that Nigel had "problems at home" and they centered around in-fighting. Not only is that widely known, but even the Headmaster was made aware that Nigels father wanted him out of the house specifically.
Despite Nigels grades being the highest in the country, being a virtually perfectly behaved teenage boy, and his dedication to a hobby that (while unsettling) is incredibly promising as both a career and a special interest- his father still found issue with something and felt the need to pull him from day school into a dormitory setting.
When showing Alex his crawlspace clubhouse, Alex knocks over a crate of bottles and wakes Nigels father. As any totally sane person would, he arms himself and scopes his property for the source of the noise before blaming the neighbors dog and returning to bed.
Nigel is not only able to tell where the guns are kept, but the exact sound of the footsteps approaching the cabinet.
He says "He's got the gun." In this...jovial, lackadaisical way. As if this is normal, expected, as if he's done this a thousand times. He's less the not worried, he's perfectly comfortable with the fact that his father is armed.
The first time we're introduced to Helen and John Colbie is during the Beckett play.
Helen greets Alex warmly, saying that Nigel has told her a lot about him. John reacts stiffly and only grows moreso as the scene plays out. It's clear that he didn't hear anything about this other boy, and finds his wifes involvement grating. His head turning to stare at her, and his sudden silence.
As Alex leaves, Helen expresses her relief that Nigel has a friend and wraps her arm around his lower back, rubbing there hard enough to move Nigels body- this seems to catch Johns eye as well.
Helen leaves the room first, floating above the tense atmosphere between John and Nigel, who seem to glare at eachother over her head. One in discomfort and the other in some smug righteousness.
The entire scene John is uncomfortable. He doesn't know this boy apparently who is Nigels bestfriend, he doesn't like how his wife touches (or jostles) his son, and he stubbornly refuses to leave the room until Nigel does.
I could be overthinking it but as soon as we see the dynamic between the Colbie's it feels painfully clear that there is a long-boiling tension. To me, it seems like Helen and Nigel are close and this upsets John, and since we already know that there was "problems" at home, we could safely assume it's to do with Johns violent tendencies.
Well, that is until the next time we see them.
Alex arrives late one night to the Colbie home at request of Nigel, only to find a car barely pulled into the carpark, it's even still running, and enough yelling to wake the dead.
On inspection, he finds Helen and Nigel the subject of Johns ire. John who once again has a gun and is demanding the explanation for why his son and wife are in bed together.
Not seen in the clip (and easily missed) is the radio from the car playing a sermon, the clergyman is talking of a wife bearing a son.
Despite being fully clothed, atleast as we see above the blankets, it's damning enough. Added to the racey photographs John was given of his wife.
It's evident that John was away, he even confirms that. There was fighting and he believed it would be best if they were all separated for a time. Clearly, he wasn't expecting to find these photos or come home to his son and wife in bed together.
Helen defends herself, at first.
She claims his accusations are disgusting and that she's appalled by the implications being thrown at her.
Even with this reaction, Nigel sits silent and grimacing at her side.
In certain shots you can see Nigel is doing something under the blankets. People think he's rubbing his legs to self-soothe, some people think he was wringing his hands for a similar purpose, others crassly assumed he was touching himself or pulling up his pants. There is no confirmation to any of these theories, as the action is fully out of view and Alex never extrapolates.
Regardless, as he sits in silence and lets his mother weather the storm of accusatory insults, her defense crumbles fast and soon she turns to Nigel.
Begging for explanation on the photos or for him to defend her, we never find out.
We all know how that song and dance goes.
John shoots Helen in a fit of rage when Nigel refuses to speak to either of them. Flinching and shaking beside his mother. Alex shoots John in a struggle for the gun, and we see Nigel slough off the image of a victim. Though not entirely. He looks down his nose at his parents but still shakes and greets Alex with a cracking voice.
This was not fun, this was not funny, this was revenge and fear. Nigel came out on top by luck alone.
Now, his mother dead, Nigel is free to have his Maraclea as Alex has Susan. This is not conditional to the Templar loving the woman, but the woman loving the Templar. This distinction was made by Nigel himself when he urged Alex to take Susan. In love, her only love.
Nigel's abuse, sexual or otherwise, was very obvious in retrospect. They did extremely well in creating this oppressive, frightening atmosphere in the Colbie house without once being fetishistic of the abuse or voyeuristic in it's exploration.
Nigel suffered and was traumatized, Alex never focuses on this and so it's easy to overlook, but when you watch it's as clear as day.
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