Screen Pass. Four ordinary boys. A harmless prank gone awry. Their childhood innocence forever shattered, they vow to avenge its loss in the haunting drama Sleepers. Sentenced to spend time at a reform school for their reckless behavior, four basically good boys from a bad neighborhood suffer a horrible fate while there. Forced to perform unspeakable acts by the very adults entrusted to watch over them, the young quartet barely survives the ordeal. A decade and a half later, nothing can erase the painful memories.
But neighborhood justice, with a little support from a loyal priest, helps even the score. Director :. Barry Levinson. Producer :. Previous Maclean's Magazine. October 16, Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews. April 17, Cinema Crazed.
June 22, Would the priest arrive at the same decision? Would the verdict seem as justified? That said, I must report this is a pretty good movie on more superficial levels. Dustin Hoffman gives a fine, subtle, quavering performance as the shaky defense lawyer who asks his questions so quietly that one witness cannot quite believe what is happening to him. Kevin Bacon is a strong, effective villain.
Robert De Niro is used more for his aura than his skills, but makes Father Bobby into the most believable character in the movie. The courtroom scene works, as most courtroom scenes do. As entertainment, the movie functions successfully. But I don't believe the story is true--not true to the facts, and not true to the morality it pretends to be about.
Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from until his death in In , he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism. Dustin Hoffman as Danny Snyder. Minnie Driver as Carol. Robert De Niro as Father Bobby. Kevin Bacon as Sean Nokes. Jason Patric as Shakes. Brad Pitt as Michael. Reviews Sleepers. In , their lives would change forever when a typical teenage prank went wrong which led to the four of them being sentenced to various terms at Wilkinson Home for Boys, a reformatory.
There, they were physically, emotionally and sexually abused primarily by Sean Nokes, the predatory lead guard of their cell block, and fellow guards Ralph Ferguson, Henry Addison, and Adam Styler, although there were other decent figures of authority at the home, including a few other guards.
Their time at the home affected the four, not all who were able to emerge from the experience to regroup their lives. In their want to forget about the experience, they made a vow not to talk about it either between themselves or with others. Fast forward thirteen years, with Tommy and Johnny being career criminals, Michael an assistant district attorney and Shakes a newspaper writer, their friendship on the surface more loose than it was when they were children.
When Tommy and John unexpectedly spot Nokes at a local restaurant, it leads to Shakes and Michael banding together to exact revenge not only on Nokes but all four of the guards who abused them. Michael had long mapped out a plan even before Tommy and John saw Nokes, but that sighting and its aftermath alters the plan. Beyond the precarious position Tommy and John place themselves into, Michael has the most to lose even if the plan succeeds.
Most of the plan implementation is left to Shakes who has to enlist the machine of Hell's Kitchen, including mob boss King Benny, and their childhood friend, social worker Carol Martinez, who currently is John's girlfriend.
Beyond co-opting aging lawyer Danny Snyder, who admits he may not be the best choice as an alcoholic who is no longer near the top of his game, the plan is threatened by a key piece, the need for an unreproachable figure to perjure him or herself, that person who Michael and Shakes hopes will be Father Bobby.
Father Bobby, even if he knew of the abuse, may not be able to do his friends this enormous favor of an illegal nature, he who has to balance the morality of the situation in his own mind in deciding what to do. When friendship runs deeper than blood. Rated R for language, graphic violence and two scenes of strong sexual content. Did you know Edit. Trivia Author Lorenzo Carcaterra has claimed that his book, on which the film is based, is a true story of his childhood. When the New York legal community went on record stating that no cases resembling the events of his book could be found in any court records, Carcaterra refused to discuss it.
Carcaterra's school attendance records show he couldn't have been in prison for as long as he said, and he couldn't have been in prison at the dates given for certain events in the book. David Stout, a New York Times reporter who did a story on the controversy, said in an interview that he could find nothing in the newspaper's extensive library, or anywhere else, that resembled the case.
Lorenzo claims that names and locations were changed to avoid legal issues and stands behind his story. Goofs The narrator reports the summer of as "the Summer of Love. Quotes Nokes : What do you want? User reviews Review.
Top review. Visceral Vigilante Vengeance If you're able to to turn a blind eye to the implausibility of the end, or instead see it as an interpretation of the lengths people will to go to for justice when the system has let them down then, coupled with the very realistic and believable earlier parts of the story, you have a very sad but not uncommon tale centred on abuse, with outstanding performances all round and a genuine reason to take a blood pressure pill to calm yourself down.
Xstal Oct 17,
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