Robert De NiroReleased almost 30 years ago, the film ‘Sleepers’ was controversial and received mixed reviews at the time. Now, a few years later, the famous director of the film, Barry Levinsonis revisiting the issue and wondering why it was so controversial in the first place.
Director Barry Levinson talks about Robert De Niro’s ‘Sleepers’
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about the film, director Barry Levinson asked why it received mixed reviews and was seen as a “controversial film” at the time.He mentioned: “Why does cinema get into this cycle of whether or not something happened? It’s a story. It wasn’t the craziest, weirdest thing you’ve ever imagined.” The film has been making headlines recently after it was confirmed that it will soon be released in 4K and Blu-Ray. Levinson added that he never understood what was wrong with the film when it was released in 1996 to warrant people speaking out against it. He added: “I never quite got that noise that was being made at the time. In some ways, it took away from what the piece was. It doesn’t need to be authenticated in that sense to make us pay attention.”A critical part of the so-called film was Robert De Niro’s character, who gave false testimony in court that helped free the victims. At the time, many were not happy with the portrayal of a Church Father and said that a priest would never lie. To this, Levinson added that people were missing the point of the film, as De Niro’s character was in itself a small part of the huge story. He said: “() Whether a priest would ever lie was caught. You can certainly have that, but that’s not the point of the movie. It was a much broader piece than that.”
The plot of Robert De Niro’s movie “Sleepers”.
The plot of the film revolves around four teenagers in Hell’s Kitchen. After a prank that almost kills a man by accident, they are sent to a reform school. Instead of helping them, they are subjected to 6 to 12 months of brutal, sexual torture at the hands of four guards at the school. Years later, as adults, two of them stand trial after shooting one of the perpetrators who ruined their lives. In addition to veteran actor De Niro, he also starred Kevin Bacon, Brad Renfro, Billy Crudup, Jonathan Tucker, Brad Pitt, Minnie Driver, Jason Patric, Dustin Hoffman and many others.
