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All Movie Info
Starring:
Brad Pitt, Jason Patric, Ron Eldard, Billy Crudup, Kevin Bacon, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Vittorio Gassman, Minnie Driver, Terry Kinney, Brad Renfro, Jonathan Tucker, Joe Perrino, Bruno Kirby, Aida Turturro, Frank Medrano
Directed By:
Barry Levinson
Written By:
Barry Levinson
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Sleepers (1996)
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Movie Review by Jarrod
December 14th, 2007
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'Sleepers' is a potent drama based on events documented by Lorenzo Carcaterra, in a controversial book that may or may not be a work of complete fiction. Carcaterra is portrayed here, as an adult, by Jason Patric, and as a child by Joseph Perrino.
He grew up in Hell's Kitchen, part of Manhattan, located between 34th and 57th Street, a neighborhood where everybody knows everybody else, and where people will do just about anything for one another, whatever the cost. The two sources of authority are the church and the mob. The former is represented by the dutiful priest Father Bobby (De Niro), the latter by local crime lord King Benny (Vittorio Gassman). Both men commandeer much respect, especially from Lorenzo and his friends, John, Tommy and Michael. The four of them are practically inseparable. One day, a stupid prank involving a hot dog vendor's cart nearly kills a man in the subway, and the boys find themselves sent off to a reformatory. There, they are subjected to physical and sexual abuse by a cadre of sadistic guards, led by Sean Nokes (Bacon). They are raped and beaten, but endure until they are released, and keep silent about it for years, out of shame and fear. John and Tommy (Ron Eldard and Billy Crudup) end up running a gang, and one night they go into a bar and catch a glimpse of Nokes. They shoot him.
Michael (Pitt) is the DA and devises an elaborate scheme that would get John and Tommy acquitted, which he works out with Lorenzo, and old girlfriend Carol (Minnie Driver). It involves the use of an alcoholic defense lawyer named Danny Snyder (Hoffman), whose questions to witnesses are written in advance. Michael will proceed through the trial as normal, presenting damning evidence against John and Tommy, but then trying to persuade Father Bobby to testify that they were with him the night of the murder, which would validate their innocence. Michael also wishes to bring up what happened at the reformatory, and to reveal what kind of person Nokes was, and he also seeks to get revenge (either directly or indirectly) on Nokes's comrades, one of whom, Ralph Ferguson (Terry Kinney), is called as a witness, and forced to confront his past crimes. Father Bobby acts as the moral compass, he is asked to perjure himself, to sacrifice his spiritual integrity, to save John and Tommy, something that he understandably takes some time to consider.
He is not aware of what Nokes did to them, but when he finds out, his face expresses both sadness and shock. The moral dilemma is central to the later portions of the film, because without Father Bobby's testimony, John and Tommy are doomed. Does he make the right decision? That is something the film leaves for the viewer to decide. Is an act of homosexual rape morally more reprehensible than murder? This seems to be the lesson of 'Sleepers', but then maybe nothing is ever that clear. The Catholic Church has certainly had its own issues with child molestation, but apparently finds Nokes's offense more sinful than that of a pedophile priest. That Nokes is a pedophile should be obvious, he takes advantage of vulnerable teenagers and uses them to satisfy his own sick desires, but is he homosexual? That could very well be the case, or it could be a matter of expediency, he works in a boys' facility, and thus has only boys to prey on. It may have been no different if they had been girls.
De Niro's performance is arguably the strongest, as Father Bobby has to choose between justice and loyalty. Bacon is effective as the detestable Nokes, whose death will bring no tears to anyone's eyes, but murder is still murder. Gassman is great as Benny, a man of terrifying power and influence, who doesn't have to say much to get his point across. Hoffman, as usual, is solid. Pitt fares better than Patric, but both have roles that are undernourished. The excessive narration grows tiresome, not only because of its monotonous delivery, but also because most of it is simply unnecessary. The scenes in the reformatory are unsettling, as they should be, and the courtroom segments are riveting. John Williams earned an Oscar nomination for his musical score, which I barely noticed.
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 | Andy
Dec 14, 2007 9:28 PM
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| I've always felt like this was a great story with the wrong director. Barry Levinson can be touching at times, but this is a harder edged movie. I would've loved to see what Martin Scorsese would've done with this. |
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