''Sins of the Father'' is a 2002 American

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

directed by

Robert Dornhelm Robert Dornhelm (born 17 December 1947 in Temesvár, Romania) is an Austrian film and television director. Biography Dornhelm is of Jewish descent. He has worked on numerous television programmes and has also released such movies as ''Echo Pa ...

and written by

John Pielmeier John Pielmeier (born February 23, 1949) is an American playwright and screenwriter. Life and career Pielmeier was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania, the son of Louise (Blackburn) and Len Pielmeier. He was raised Catholic. He earned a Bachelor of Art ...

. It is based on an article by

Pamela Colloff Pamela Colloff is an American journalist. She has contributed to ''The New Yorker'', but a majority of her work has been featured in ''Texas Monthly'', where she was an executive editor. As of 2017, Colloff is a senior reporter at ProPublica and a ...

published in the April 2000 issue of ''

Texas Monthly ''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. ''Texas Monthly'' was founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy and has been published by Emmis Publishing, L.P. since 1998 and is ...

'', chronicling the 1963

16th Street Baptist Church bombing The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing was a white supremacist terrorist bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, on Sunday, September 15, 1963. Four members of a local Ku Klux Klan chapter planted 19 sticks of dynam ...

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

, in which four young African-American girls were killed while attending Sunday school. The victims were Addie Mae Collins, 14 yrs old; Denise McNair, 11 yrs old; Carole Robertson, 14 yrs old; and Cynthia Welsley, 14 yrs old. It was believed that there were 5 girls together in the church basement on that fateful day, but only one survived: young Sarah Collins, Addie Mae's younger sister. The bombing was racially motivated and carried out by members of the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

. The film was first aired on January 6, 2002 on FX.

Plot

Tom Cherry (Tom Sizemore), a middle-aged man, has difficult decisions to make when the police reopen the investigation into the 1963

in which his father, Bobby Frank Cherry (Richard Jenkins), was involved. Now, Tom has to decide whether to protect his father or to turn him in and let justice finally be done.

Cast

Tom Sizemore Thomas Edward Sizemore Jr. (; born November 29, 1961) is an American actor and producer. He is known for his supporting roles in films such as ''Born on the Fourth of July'' (1989), ''Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man'' (1991), ''Passenger 5 ...

as Tom Cherry *

Richard Jenkins Richard Dale Jenkins (born May 4, 1947) is an American actor who is well known for his portrayal of deceased patriarch Nathaniel Fisher on the HBO funeral drama series '' Six Feet Under'' (2001–2005). He began his career in theater at the Tri ...

Bobby Frank Cherry Bobby Frank Cherry (June 20, 1930 – November 18, 2004) was an American white supremacist, terrorist, and Klansman who was convicted of murder in 2002 for his role in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in 1963. The bombing killed four young A ...

Brenda Bazinet Brenda Bazinet (born July 18, 1956) is a Canadian actress. She is a recipient of the Gemini Award and has been nominated four times for the Dora Mavor Moore Award. Bazinet was born in 1956 in Saskatchewan and grew up there. She attended high schoo ...

as Virginia Cherry * Lachlan Murdoch as Young Tom *

Colm Feore Colm Joseph Feore (; born August 22, 1958) is a Canadian actor. A 15-year veteran of the Stratford Festival, he is known for his Gemini-winning turn as Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in the CBC miniseries '' Trudeau'' (2002), his portrayal of G ...

as Dalton Strong *

Ving Rhames Irving Rameses Rhames (born May 12, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for his supporting roles as IMF Agent Luther Stickell in the ''Mission: Impossible'' film series and gang kingpin Marsellus Wallace in ''Pulp Fiction''. He also ap ...

as Garrick Jones * Jessica Gray Charles as Denise McNair * Funmiola Lawson as Cynthia Wesley *

Aaryn Doyle Aaryn Élan Doyle (born January 4, 1993) is a Canadian actress, singer and dancer. She is best known for her role as Lola Scott in the Disney Channel Original Movie ''Camp Rock''. In 2008, Aaryn was signed to the Ford Modeling Agency, but is c ...

as Carole Robertson * Isys McKoy as Addie Mae Collins * Mica Le John as Sarah Collins * Kim Roberts as Mrs. Wesley * Delores Etienne as Older Woman at Church * Sandi Ross as Sunday School Teacher *

Ardon Bess Ardon Bess (born 1941) is a Canadian actor best known for appearing in a Heritage Moment television commercial about the 1958 Springhill mining disaster portraying survivor Maurice Ruddick. Early life and education Bess was born in Kingstown, ...

as Minister at Church * Michael Rhoades as Tommy * Bruce McFee as

Robert Chambliss Robert Edward Chambliss (January 14, 1904 – October 29, 1985), also known as ''Dynamite Bob'', was a white supremacist terrorist convicted in 1977 of murder for his role as conspirator in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in 1963. A member ...

* Tony Munch as

Herman Cash Herman Frank Cash (July 25, 1918 – February 7, 1994) was a suspected fourth conspirator in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing of 1963 along with Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr., Robert Edward Chambliss, and Bobby Frank Cherry, all of whom received p ...

Simon Reynolds Simon Reynolds (born 19 June 1963) is an English music journalist and author who began his professional career on the staff of ''Melody Maker'' in the mid-1980s. He has since gone on to freelance and publish a number of full-length books on music ...

as Troy Ingram *

Tom McBeath Tom McBeath is a Canadian actor. He is the winner of three Jessie Awards best known for playing Col. Harold Maybourne on ''Stargate SG-1''. In 2017, he started playing Smithers on '' Riverdale''. Biography He appeared in an episode of ''Street ...

J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American law enforcement administrator who served as the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation � ...

Production

The film was shot in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. The cast includes

Jackie Richardson Jackie Richardson (born January 4, 1947) is a Canadian singer and actress. Richardson is known for her screen roles in '' Turning to Stone'', ''The Gospel According to the Blues'', ''The Doodlebops'', and '' Sins of the Father''. She is also kno ...

Connor Price Connor Price (born November 11, 1994) is a Canadian-American actor and hip hop artist. Beginning his career as a child actor, he is best known for his roles in the films ''Cinderella Man'' (2005) and ''Good Luck Chuck'' (2007). Career Price's c ...

, Isys McKoy, Jessica Gray Charles, and Funmiola Lawson.

Reception

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of 50% based on reviews from 6 critics. Andy Webb from "The Movie Scene" gave the film four out five stars and wrote: "What this all boils down to is that "Sins of the Father" is an extremely powerful movie which doesn't hold back when it comes to showing the racism of the 1960s and then building a modern drama around it with a son's conflict. It will be too brutal for some but it is worth it as it will shock and move you whilst also showing a trio of actors playing difficult roles extremely well."

Accolades

Rhames was nominated for the

Black Reel Award The Black Reel Awards, or BRAs, is an annual American awards ceremony hosted by the Foundation for the Augmentation of African-Americans in Film (FAAAF) to recognize excellence of African Americans, as well as the cinematic achievements of the Afr ...

for Best Actor and the

NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special This article lists the winners and nominees for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special. Currently Blair Underwood holds the record for most wins in this category with four. Winners and no ...

. Pielmeier's teleplay earned him nominations for the

Humanitas Prize The Humanitas Prize is an award for film and television writing, and is given to writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced and meaningful way. It began in 1974 with Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser—also the founder of Paulist P ...

and the

Writers Guild of America Award The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949. Eligibility Th ...

. ''Sins of the Father'' was also nominated for an

Artios Awards The Casting Society, formerly known as Casting Society of America (CSA), was founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1982 as a professional society of about 1,200 casting directors and associate casting directors for film, television, theatre, and ...

in the category of "Best Casting for TV Movie of the Week". The film was also nominated for a

NAACP Image Awards The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. Similar to ...

for "Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special".

References

External links

* * {{Robert Dornhelm 2002 television films 2002 films 2002 crime drama films 2000s American films 2000s English-language films American crime drama films American drama television films American films based on actual events Artisan Entertainment films Civil rights movement in film Civil rights movement in television Crime films based on actual events Crime television films Drama films based on actual events Films about father–son relationships Films about the Ku Klux Klan Films based on newspaper and magazine articles Films directed by Robert Dornhelm Films scored by Harald Kloser Films set in Alabama Films shot in Toronto FX Networks original films History of Birmingham, Alabama Television films based on actual events