Storyline
A Catholic school for boys is torn apart by a struggle for power between an idealist student and a sadistic director prone to dictatorship.
Director Keith Gordon
Actors John Glover, Ilan Mitchell-Smith, Wales Langham, etc.
Viewer review
There is a story that happened to Robert Cormier's son when he was in school where, like many other schools in America, regular sales were a form of extracurricular social work. But fortunately, the real story with his son did not have such a dramatic ending as in this story. The author beat all kinds of “if only...”, which contributed to the development of violent dramatic events. This is how the book “The Chocolate War” appeared in 1974, which was banned from distribution in several libraries.
I read this book in one breath. Because I prefer books where protagonists don't win. I was attracted by a set of character images, from Jerry to Trinity School and the Vigills. And this book has the moral that school rules are not so hopeless; what is used for evil can also be used for good. Roughly speaking, don't look for adventures to your fifth point.
The 1988 film was directed by Keith Gordon (debut at age 27), with John Glover and Ilan Mitchell-Smith as the main actors. Betrayal, conspiracies, cruelty, hypocrisy — all this flows into a school owned by the Trinity Catholic community. Chocolate sales are held every year, but it so happened that the director fell ill and was replaced by the cruel Brother Line. With his thin, poisonous high-pitched voice, he could grab anyone's attention like a cobra. The teacher's pointer replaced his snake sting. He watched the class like a hawk, suspecting everyone, looking for “jumps” or those who got distracted and dreamed about something. He groped everyone in class for their weaknesses and encouraged everyone to use the cheat sheet, and then caught him doing it. And he behaved the same way outside the classroom with many people.. Line is greedy, cruel, and self-confident. It raises the price of a box of chocolate, humiliates children. And the Vigills are not angels either, although they follow Lyne's orders. This organization appears to be a bunch of angry rats and clumsy mice. There's “bastard” Archie Costello and his “secretary” Obi, President John Carter, and rude Emile Janza. It so happened that Jerry Reno got into the world of Trinity. His mother has died, and his father works as a pharmacist for days. Impressed by this “world”, he has a question: “Will I be able to destroy the universe?”. And he simply refuses to live under Trinity laws—he refuses to sell chocolate. He has like-minded people like Guber, a nice but cowardly and naive boy. But Jerry is paying a heavy price for this act...
Speaking about whether this film was well shot, I will say in Father Reno's words: “normal”, but “I expected something different” from myself. The characters turned out to be realistic, but not real. Archie appears to be an emotional guy, but in the book he is cold-blooded and keeps his emotions to himself. Glover's Line is simple and easy, but drops of violence show up 45% out of 100. It is not clear why the film's plot includes the heroine Lisa, who was not even in the book? Jerry had no friends at all, and the call to Eileen Barrett failed, and then Jerry is the hero, and his girlfriend appears. But I'm happy with the way she was played by Jenny Wright, a mysterious and daring devil wearing a punk leather jacket. The only thing I liked was Mitchell-Smith's performance, which is how I imagined Jerry. A mysterious, weird, timid guy, but he wants to do something with his life. And he didn't pretend to be a Hero, because he doesn't have pathos and brightness. Music is a symbiosis of new wave, art rock and classical music. They're Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel, they're Yazoo and I. S. Bach.
I'm not saying the movie is bad! From myself and Father Reno together is a good film adaptation that shows the tragedy of a child in school violence. The images of secondary characters didn't come out, but the rest is fine. I think the movie is not for everyone, but the book is great! I recommend reading it.
8 out of 10
Author Dirty Sweet Alice
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