Director: Barry Levinson
Screenplay: Barry Levinson, based on the book Sleepers by Lorenzo Carcaterra
Starring: Kevin Bacon, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Bruno Kirby, Jason Patric, Brad Pitt, Brad Renfro, Minnie Driver
Running Time: 147 minutes
Genre: Crime drama
In the summer of 1967 four boys growing up in the tough Hell's Kitchen neigbourhood of New York City, accidentally injure a pedestrian in a thoughtless prank. They are sentenced to do time at the Wilkinson Home for Boys, a brutal reform school where they are regularly abused by sadistic guards. By 1981 the four friends, all affected in different ways by their experiences at Wilkinson, have drifted apart until they are reunited by a violent act of revenge.
This stylish crime drama is based on a controversial bestseller by Lorenzo Carcaterra, which he insists is autobiographical, although there are disclaimers at the end of the film denying the events ever took place. This is an entertaining, if unwieldy film, which is almost like three in one. The opening scenes of the film depict the boys (played by Joe Perrino, Brad Renfro, Geoffrey Wigdor and Jonathan Tucker) growing up in Hell's Kitchen, under the watchful eyes of suave local crime boss King Benny (Vittorio Gassman) and tough but kindly Catholic priest Father Bobby (Robert De Niro), and is kind of a coming of age street movie, kind of a cross between Mean Streets (1973), which also starred De Niro, and Stand By Me (1986), with shades of the De Niro directed A Bronx Tale (1993). The second, and by far the most disturbing passage, which depicts the boys' abuse at the hands of the sadistic guards (headed by Kevin Bacon) feels like a mix of Scum (1979) and The Shawshank Redemption (1994). In the third and longest section, the film turns into a legal drama, with the boys bow adults (played by Jason Patric, Brad Pitt, Billy Crudup and Ron Eldard). It's a stylishly made film with the opening section having a bright sun-dappled "summer of innocence" look, and the second section has bleak, wintery look, with muted colours. The abuse that the boys suffer is depicted an almost impressionistic way, while it is obvious what is happening, none of it is really shown. The film's tonal changes are sometimes jarring, but it is an entertaining and involving film, with a fantastic cast, although Brad Pitt fans may be disappointed that he doesn't appear until about an hour into the film.
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