Sleepers Movie Analysis

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Cristina Aguilera Professor Joseph English 101 April 1, 2014 Effects of Violence Sleepers by Barry Levinson is a brutal film based on Lorenzo Carcaterra’s book Sleepers. The narrative is based on four main characters, Jason Patric as Shakes, Brad Pitt as Michael Sullivan, Ron Eldard as John Reilly and Billy Crudup as Tommy Marcano who throughout the story suffered multiple abuses and were severely exploited as children. This leads them to endure many disorders such as violent behavior, alcohol and drug abuse, relationship disorders, and PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Due to the fact that all four characters came from broken homes they were unable to over pass their disorders which quickly sprouted and managed to take over their…show more content…
Shakes agrees in helping him and with the help of Father Bobby and Little Caesar(Rizzo’s older brother) they successfully do what they set out to; let Tommy and John free, take down guards Henry Addison, Adam Styler and Ralph Ferguson and unveil the cruelty in Wilkinson’s. Henry was easily killed by Little Caesar men, in revenge of his brother Rizzo. Adam was arrested for drug abuse and illegal trafficking, and Ralph (a married man at the time) confesses in court about the beatings and violations him and his friends committed while working in Wilkinson Home for Boys. The jury finds Tommy and John not…show more content…
It’s evident the two boys grew up to be violent people. Dr. Peter Fonagy, a child development expert, explains, “A child exposed to abuse has a higher chance to become a criminal because his or her childhood has mental scars of what they went through.” Fonagy also mentions, “Children are like sponges; they absorb everything they see, and as adults unintentionally repeat and look for what they lived through”. Tommy and John are great examples of this because they repeatedly suffered from rape as well as brutal beatings. As a result, under their circumstances fighting back seemed like the only way to defend themselves. Aggression, what both characters were affected by, is a horrible habit that can easily be prevented with proper help. Good Therapy clarifies, “Psychotherapy can have a profound effect in treating aggression and violence. Different types of psychotherapy may work better dependent upon personality and life experiences”. For example, cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on teaching people with aggressive and violent behaviors to better understand and control those behaviors, learn coping mechanisms, which helps them properly channel the thoughts and feelings associated with their violent behaviors and aggression, and learn how to properly assess the consequences of those behaviors. This type of
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