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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 2987
Released: April 1, 1997 |
| Our Price: $2.84 |
| Used Price: $0.99 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Dramatization of the true story of four boys who are imprisoned for a year in the Wilkinson Home for Boys changing them forever. As adults one is a lawyer, one a reporter, & two are professional hit men and all are still filled with the pain & fear of their year in Wilkinson.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 3-FEB-2004
Media Type: DVD
Description of Sleepers:
The first thing you need to know about Sleepers is that it's based on a novel by Lorenzo Carcaterra that was allegedly based on a true story. The movie repeats this bogus claim, which was attacked and determined by a wide majority to be misleading. Knowing this, Sleepers can be a problematic movie because it's too neat, too clean, too manipulative in terms of legal justice and dramatic impact to be truly convincing. And yet, with its stellar cast directed by Barry Levinson, the movie succeeds as gripping entertainment, and its tale of complex morality--despite a dubious emphasis on homophobic revenge--is sufficiently provocative. It's about four boys in New York's Hell's Kitchen district who are sent to reform school, where they must endure routine sexual assaults by the sadistic guards. Years after their release, the opportunity for revenge proves irresistible for two of the young men, who must then rely on the other pair of friends (Brad Pitt, Jason Patric), a loyal priest (Robert De Niro), and a shabby lawyer (Dustin Hoffman) to defend them in court. Despite the compelling ambiguities of the story, there's never any doubt about how we're supposed to feel, and the screenplay glosses over the story's most difficult moral dilemmas. And yet, Sleepers grabs your attention and pulls you into its intense story of friendship and the price of loyalty under extreme conditions. The movie's New York settings are vividly authentic, and Minnie Driver makes a strong impression as a long-time friend of the loyal group of guys. --Jeff Shannon
Sleepers Reviews:
A surprising film. 
2009-09-30 - Brad Pitt and Brad Renfro, (who died of a drug overdose around the same time as Heath Ledger.) He was a wonderful actor who starred in APT PUPIL, and in the CLIENT as a younger actor. This is a story of a boys prison and guards who sexually abuse them. The worst part? It's a flipper with a snap cover. I hate those flippers but in November 2009 the restored version will be available. I will buy it for sure. A good cast and a well done film, with a happy ending-smile!
Intense. 
2009-05-27 - Sleepers is an unsettling drama featuring an all-star cast. The best performance in the film is Brad Pitt, this role proved he's more than a pretty face. Jason Patric is also terrific here, very under-rated actor. The film deals with abuse, and nothing graphic is shown but you are fully aware about did happen to these boys when they were teens. Great film from a great director, check it out!
Great movie!!!
2009-01-11 - It is a sad story, but wow it is a great movie with awesome actors!!!
Based on a True Story
2008-12-02 - Sleepers made headlines even before its release when claims arose that writer Lorenzo Carcaterra had lied about the book being "Based on a True Story." This seems redundant given the BROAD nature of the phrase but never-the-less some cared more about the accuracy of the film than the message that it delivered.
An all-star cast of Robert De Niro, Kevin Bacon, Brad Pitt, Jason Patric, Dustin Hoffman & Minnie Driver et al each provide a unique piece to the overall picture. De Niro's performance of Father Bobby is very convincing. He is the father figure to a lot of the potentially lost youth in Brooklyn.
The message of the movie is simple, these things happen to children because the system is a failure. The ending is a metaphor and it is clear...If justice is indeed blind, then those that are failed by the system can have their wrongs righted by beating the system. This is a great movie to say the least.
sleepres
2008-10-07 -
this is great movie it have great actor every body deserve thumb up
