VHS : Sleepers [1997]

Rating: - A film that will wreck your emotions but leave you begging to know more.
*****POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN MY REVIEW*********

This is in my top 5 greatest ever movies, falling only behind Goodfellas, Stand By Me and Casino.

I watched the film first and then read the book, and I don't think it matters which way you do it because they are both outstanding masterpieces.

This film will make you feel nauseas, it will make you frustrated, angry, upset, relieved and then leave you with a tear in your eye. I challenge you to hate a movie character from any other movie as much as you hate the guards in this film, you will rebel and support a murder in cold blood, and be thankful when the guilty murderers walk free at the end of it. It is a story of revenge, bitter yet just revenge.

I highly recommend this movie to literally anyone, if you have an interest in mob films, US History, New York then even more so

It has an all star cast, Brad Pitt, Robert De Nero, Dustin Hoffman, Kevin Bacon..

If ever a film deserved 5 stars, this is it.

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Rating: - Really enjoyable film with a 5-star cast
This film has a suprising amount of A-list actors in it and deserves more recognition I think. Robert DeNiro plays his role as Father Bobby exceptionally well and Brad Pitt and Kevin Bacon also provide good performances. Essentially great injustices are done and finally righted with sweet revenge, the interplay of all the characters as this story of revenge unfolds is at least partly what makes it such a good movie.

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Rating: - Father Bobby would have made a good "hit-man." It's a shame we lost him to the other side.
A journalist and a lawyer conspire together to get two brutal assassins acquitted of their most recent murder. What the world does not know is that their latest victim, Sean Nokes, tortured and raped these four men as boys. When Nokes was killed, these men were exacting their revenge for years of torment.
When this movie was first released, there was a lot of controversy over whether it was a true story or not. No one really knows how much of the story is true, if any of it. I tend to step back from this argument, as I believe that it doesn't really matter. If it is true, it's a great story; and if it isn't, it still is a terrific marketing device and a great story.
Sleepers is an excellent film. The plot is beautifully knitted together by a clever narrative. The events depicted on screen are, at times, hard to watch, but are brilliantly woven into a fascinating and complicated plot. The dialogue in this movie is tremendous, and the men and women of Hell's Kitchen come gloriously to life through witty turns of phrase and poignant drama.
The performances are sublime. Robert De Niro makes one of the "coolest" priests I have ever seen on screen, and Brad Pitt portrays a greatly disheartened and troubled lawyer. (This proves once again my own personal theory that Pitt is fantastic when he is not the lead.)
Sleepers is a movie full of anguish, remorse, and bloody, cleverly-plotted revenge. Sleepers will make you shed a tear; it will make you wince at its brutality; and, it will make you cheer on the most violent and brutal of assassins, as they are acquitted of a murder they did commit.

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Rating: - Must see film, but is it true or not?
This film is superb, it is a tale of freindship told from a group of young men through to adulthood.

It is essentially about a huge error in judegement made as youngster's that sadly haunts all four of them for the rest of their live's (2 of them quite litterally), as all of them are sexually abused (abuse thankfully not shown, that's left to your imagination or not), whilst at a youth detention centre and the inevetible fallout from these events.

Riveting stuff and great performances from the entire cast including Brad Pitt, Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman, this is a must see movie.

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Rating: - a lesson for all - a move that will stick in one' s mind
This is a movie which will stick in your mind for a long time.

It is hard
It is violent
It is disgusting
It is shocking
It is about friendship
It is about life destroyed
It is about loyalty
It is about hope

Already this lists indicated that it is not an easy movie and about very contradictorily values. Those who endure violence as children will very often turn to violence themselves when being grown-ups: a familiar and comforting pattern. Sexual abuse of children is properly one of the most disgusting of all crimes. Here four boys, four friends have to endure this and years later their change for revenge presents themselves. The old friendship is put to a test and the wheels of revenge are put into motion, kind of inspired by the revenge of the Count of Monte Christo once took.

I am honestly not sure that the message of revenge is the right one, even though that it here VERY understandable. Revenge does not really solve anything; one wrong replaced by another wrong does not make it right but perpetuates the wrongs.

I was impressed by the cast and the acting - it is star-studded but it is not a "star movie". It works perfectly and it is quite amazing.

Highly recommended!!