A generally well made movie with a very dubious message: the best way to raise your children is to treat them like garbage. This movie is based on a 1920s book, and that message might seem resonant with the values of that era. But it's strange to listen to this kind of litany in a contemporary movie. To summarize the plot a bit, the film is about a young man, son of an unwed and stern woman, whose career is made almost impossible by his natural father, a thoroughly repellent individual, whose job seems to be to evict the poor from their homes when they can't pay their debts. The father tries every tactic to harass his son and to bring him into bankruptcy. What is most shocking is that the movie seems to imply that the father really loves his son, and all the wretched things he does to him are in order to build his character (hence the title) and become a successful person in society. Summing up, a well made movie with a message that seems a relic from a previous era.
