"You can have a head full of the right ideas, but if you can't make the right moves in the world, they're worthless."

In The Education of Charlie Banks, Charlie's father tells us the thesis of the film early on. It is right after Charlie has recanted his statement to police about his acquaintance Mick's severe beating of two others at a party. Because of this, Mick is released from jail and doesn't face responsibility for his actions.

Charlie and Mick have an uncomfortable relationship. Charlie is a good student, and has a sense of morality, but ever since he first saw Mick on the play ground as a child, he's been fascinated by his recklessness and swagger. Their paths have only crossed occasionally, but then Mick shows up in Charlie's college dorm room unexpectedly. (He's a friend of Charlie's roommate.) Soon he has worked his way into Charlie's life and social circle. Mick is smooth and makes friends very easily. He steals away Charlie's girlfriend. He takes center stage within Charlie's circle of friends. It seems like Mick has mellowed out, but Charlie knows the turbulence that lies beneath Mick's calm façade. Charlie is never quite sure if Mick knows that he is the one who turned him in to the police years before. Is Mick there to get revenge? Is this the price that Charlie has to pay for not doing the right thing?

The film is not subtle about its focus on morality. Setting the story on a college campus allows the filmmaker to bring in a variety of ideas. We get references to The Great Gatsby, which Mick and Charlie's relationship turns on its head; Derrida, deconstructionism, and the search for meaning; and "the banality of evil," a concept coined by Hannah Arendt in reflecting on the Adolph Eichmann trial and how terribly evil deeds are not always done by monsters, but by ordinary people who think what they are doing is normal. This concept is handy for comparing the things Mick does with some of the things Charlie's friends do. Mick knows there is something wrong with how he acts; others are not as aware of their own failings.

All of this creates a framework for us to reflect on both Mick and Charlie's morality. Mick seems to be trying to be "normal." He appreciates what Charlie and his friends have in the education they are receiving. He longs to be a part of their world, even though he always complains about "rich people." In fact Mick has a chip on his shoulder about rich people—even though he is attracted to their lives.

Charlie is wary of Mick. He tries to warn his friends about what Mick is capable of, but without success. In time, Charlie even comes to see that maybe Mick can become something other than the monster he has known him to be. Maybe Mick has turned a new leaf and is seeking some redemption for his past. Charlie, in spite of his guardedness, wants Mick to rise above what Charlie knows him to be.

But in the end, Mick and Charlie can't deconstruct their relationship—they can't see all the threads that make it up and notice the contradictions and influences that have created their understanding of this reality.

The education that Charlie receives in this story is not so much about having the right ideas (as his father noted) and certainly not about the nobility of class. Indeed, Mick is beginning to discover the joys of learning, but that is not enough to save him from himself. Charlie sees that what we do is the real measure of our morality. But it is more than just a black-and-white, good-or-bad distinction. He also discovers that even in the midst of immorality there can be a sense of hope of redemption.