Sleepers (1996)

Sleepers (1996) — Crime / Drama / Thriller Set in Hell’s Kitchen, Sleepers follows four inseparable boys whose lives are shattered after a prank goes horribly wrong and they’re sentenced to Wilkinson Home for Boys, a reform school where the guards—particularly a predatory lead guard—physically, emotionally and sexually abuse them. Thirteen years later the men they become—some lawful, some criminal—are pulled back together when a chance sighting of that guard offers a path to revenge. The film moves between the gritty bonds of childhood and the dark consequences that trauma leaves on adult lives. One friend, now an assistant district attorney, quietly devises a high‑risk plan that forces the others to choose between breaking the law and confronting the men who ruined them. The story unfolds as equal parts crime thriller and moral drama, with tense plotting, a courtroom element, and escalating acts of retribution that test loyalties and ethics. What you’ll experience: intense, often disturbing scenes and powerful emotional moments; a slow‑burn tension that builds into a desperate, morally ambiguous scheme; and themes of friendship, memory, justice and vengeance. Expect hard truths rather than tidy resolutions—this is a gritty, affecting drama that asks whether true justice can ever be reclaimed after lasting abuse.

Actors: Robert De Niro, Kevin Bacon, Brad Pitt

Director: Barry Levinson

Runtime: 147 min

Genres: Crime, Drama, Thriller

7.4 /10 49 /100 7.5 /10 6.6 /10