The Boys of St. Vincent

This movie is disturbing and hard to watch sometimes, but I suggest every parent who get the chance to see this movie to do it. Who are these sick people anyway? How can anyone do something like this to a little boy? That boy being thrown into the wall, whipped with a belt buckle and carried up the dark stairs is an image I will never forget. The kids give great performances, especially little Morina. Then you have Czerny as the head priest. Talk about perfect casting. A great performance. Will give you chills. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was a child-molester, playing one so well. WATCH IT.

This is a difficult film to watch, made even more so because it is reportedly based on fact. "The Boys of St. Vincent" is mature film making on an important subect, and should be widely seen. The "endictment' of institutional abusers may be extended to a wider sphere than that focused on in this film. The public needs to be aware of such situations, so it can act (and vote) more responsibly. This is a superior production, with astonishing performances by the youthful cast, and headed by a powerful Henry Czerny in the lead role.

I watched this film the other night after it was recommended to me by someone with whom I was discussing the film "Song For A Raggy Boy." To say I enjoyed the film would be totally inappropriate given the subject matter but it did grip me and hold my interest throughout it's full running.

What concerned me however was the amount of child nudity involved which I must admit I found disturbing and in all honesty far more than actually necessary. Am I the only one who felt this?

As a survivor of child abuse, I understand that my perspective on these things might vary from other member's views, but I could not help feel there was simply too much and when I compare the film to "Song For A Raggy Boy" I cannot help but question if all of the child nudity was needed.

Other than this one criticism, I thought the film was excellently produced and cleverly presented with extremely powerful performances from the leads.

Despite my previous comments I would recommend this film.

It has taken more than one hundred (100) years of physical and sexual abuse for a small percentage of the churches dirty big secrets were revealed. The Boys of St Vincent deserves to be seen and heard for the majority of good Roman Catholic patrons and clergy to have even a semblance of understanding and appreciation of the wrong doing that took place in the Roman Catholic orphanages and schools over the past one hundred (100) years.

I would like to thank the director and producers for drawing the perfect balance between physical and mental abuse awareness and graphic detail.

The acting of the two lead characters Brother Peter Lavin (Henry Czerny) and Kevin Reevey (Johnny Morina) was especially realistic and as difficult it was to watch the abuse I appreciated how both actors maintained their roles to ensure their audience understood the disgust for which pedophile and manipulation was controlled by the adults who were responsible for the care and education of the children who had no one else to feed, clothe and educate them.

A very strong supporting cast also deserve to be recognized. As much as I would have like to rate the film a 10/10 the subject matter warrants a lesser rating of an 8 out of 10 IMDB rating.

The 1970 story is true, though the movie begins with a disclaimer, but for those who became victims, it really dates back to Not when it happened, but to the time when the Priests got caught and prosecuted. It took great courage for Director John N. Smith and his producer/writer Sam Grana to direct this deeply emotional and shocking story of prepubescent and preteen boys in an orphanage called "The Boys of St. Vincent. " Equally courageous are Henry Czerny and Johnny Molina who plays Kevin Reevey, the two main stars in this revealing tale. Czerny plays the school's director and main pedophile who hides his duel twisted and perverted nature beneath his Catholic robes. The boys themselves live in abject fear and physical terror of him and the other priests called 'Bros.' Thru daily, nightly and thereafter yearly punishment, the boys suffer dumb anguish as they pray for salvation. In some cases, the boys suffer mental, physical and ritual abuse, together with nightly sexual rape. The movie recreates as much as possible the sufferings of the boys, without becoming lurid. Their tale of woe continues until a police inspector begins to collect verbal and later physical evidence on the boys. However, in 1960-1970, the powerful Catholic Church wields it enormous power to squelch police efforts and bribe, threaten and silence everyone, even the media. The crack in the impregnable religious wall finally gave way to the voracious appetite of the piranha-like Attorneys. They finally were able to subdue the Vatican and force them to pay billions to the victims. This movie is in two parts and the second part is dedicated to the aftermath, 15 years later. As for this film, it is serious to behold and certain to become a milestone for the actors and Director. Well Done. ****