The Hater (Hejter in Polish) is a Netflix original film directed by Jan Komasa and written by Mateusz Pacewicz. Released in 2020, it stars Maciej Musialowski as Tomasz (Tomek) Giemza, the protagonist. It is connected to an earlier movie, Suicide Room, but it can be watched on its own without needing the earlier movie's background.
Tomasz, a promising law student, is expelled from law school after being sanctioned for plagiarism. This sets in motion his entrance into the hidden depths of Internet trolling and right-wing fanaticism. On the way he begins to show a chameleon-like ability to be whatever his target wants him to be, be it supportive campaign worker, or online hit-man against popular vloggers.
Not all spoilers will be hidden as the trope name alone can give away certain narrative arcs in the movie.
Tropes the film includes:
- Ambiguously Bi: Tomasz shows a remarkable flexibility in his ability to seduce a man or a woman as his plans require. It's not made clear in the movie if he actually is bisexual or just good at faking it.
- Break the Haughty: Gabi's parents are dicks, with their snobbishness towards Tomasz and anyone they regard as "less than" them. However, they are not bad people, are often shown to be put in an unflattering light due to Tomasz's Unreliable Narrator status, and they are utterly broken by their daughter Natalia's brutal murder.
- Depraved Bisexual: Although the extent to which he feels any genuine attraction to Pawel is highly debatable, Tomasz fits this to a T: he's extremely manipulative, is given a heavy dose of Even the Guys Want Him, uses people for his own gain, and is driven crazy (or crazier) by the rejection of a girl.
- False Flag Operation: Tomasz creates the appearance of a hidden radical group with a secret "inner circle" in order to ensnare Stefan, a troubled young man with a fascination for guns, into a plot to attack a popular politician.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Gabi is foolish, Natalia is responsible. Natalia went to Oxford, is engaged, and is clearly her parents' pride and joy. Gabi is The Unfavorite who dropped out of university due to mental health issues and has no idea what she wants to do with her life. Losing Natalia absolutely devastates them all.
- Karma Houdini: Tomasz. Even though he does screw up a few times in ways which could be career-ending (like trying to pull the wool over his boss Beata's eyes when she's already established to be a sharp operator) or relationship-ending (like lying to family friends about being kicked out of school when they've been supporting him out of sympathy), he manages to outwit everybody and solidify his position within Beata's "PR firm" (which is more like an Internet muckraking and troll factory). It's even implied the woman he earlier alienated, Gabi, will become his girlfriend.
- Late Coming Out: Pawel is implied to be in something of a Transparent Closet with people who know him, but he eventually comes out officially after Tomasz gets him videoed at a gay bar.
- New Media Are Evil: Tomasz uses phones and hearing devices to bug his friends and opponents, and his job is to work as a professional troll with the ability to drive people to suicide or mass murder.
- Sacrificial Lion: As a subversion to the Red Shirt logic driving a lot of movie massacres, Natalia and Pawel are brutally yet casually executed by Stefan onscreen, as are several other characters that Tomasz met through his volunteer work.
- Sleeping with the Boss: Beata and Pawel are both attracted to Tomasz and either do sleep with or would (had things progressed further) have slept with him.
- The Sociopath: At first it's not obvious, but as you watch the movie you come to realize that Tomasz fits the profile: manipulative, chameleon-like, and utterly unconcerned with consequences for what he does as long as they don't blow back on him.
- Troubled Child: It's implied that Tomasz didn't have an easy life when he was younger, as evidenced by Gabi's snide comments about there being strange goings-on in the Giemza household.
- Unwitting Pawn: Stefan. He has no idea that the MMO he plays has been used as the vector for a False Flag Operation he will be made the fall guy for.
- Villain Protagonist: Tomasz. He's possibly a sociopath, and certainly doesn't care what blowback his actions have on other people as long as he comes out ahead.
- Subverted with his manipulation of the rightie wacko. To contact him, he creates a female character in the MMO the guy plays, but then he does not pretend a female identity.
