The Man Without a Face

Mel Gibson directed and starred in this rites of passage movie.

Gibson plays the disfigured teacher McLeod, who befriends a young and lonely boy Chuck Nastadt, and secretly provides him with tuition so that he can pass the entry exams of the military academy once attended by the boy's late father.

The friendship causes gossip amongst the tightly knit community, leading to accusations of abuse against the innocent McLeod.