The Boys of St. Vincent
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''The Boys of St. Vincent'' is a 1992 Canadian
television miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...
directed by
John N. Smith John N. Smith OC (born July 31, 1943 in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. Career Smith graduated with a B.A. in political science from McGill University in 1964. He joined the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1 ...
for the National Film Board of Canada. It is a two-part
docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television and film, which features dramatized re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of documentary and drama and "a fact-based representation of real event". Docudramas typic ...
inspired by real events that took place at the
Mount Cashel Orphanage The Mount Cashel Orphanage, known locally as the Mount Cashel Boys' Home, was a boys' orphanage located in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The orphanage was operated by the Congregation of Christian Brothers, and became infamous for ...
in St. John's,
Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
, one of a number of child sexual abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church. The first film, ''The Boys of St. Vincent'', covers the sexual and physical abuse of a number of orphans by Brothers headed by Brother Peter Lavin ( Henry Czerny). The second film, ''The Boys of St. Vincent: 15 Years Later'', covers the trial of the Brothers and the long-term effects of the abuse 15 years later. The miniseries was set to premiere on Canadian television in late 1992, but due to the concurrent trials of four Ontario priests who were being tried for similar cases, a court injunction banned the broadcast in Ontario and Quebec. The ban was later overturned after appeals at federal and provincial courts and the miniseries received a nationwide broadcast in late 1993. ''The Boys of St. Vincent'' received widespread critical acclaim and was included in lists of the Top 10 films of 1994 by '' Rolling Stone'', '' Entertainment Weekly'', and '' USA Today''. It won the grand prize at the Banff Television Festival, as well as a
Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...
and a National Board of Review award.


Plot


Part One

In 1975, St. Vincent Orphanage is run by the young Brother Peter Lavin. Kevin Reevey, a 10-year-old abused child, tries to avoid Lavin's attentions by running away, but he is returned to the orphanage by police. When Lavin tries to embrace and caress him, Kevin resists and protests, "You're not my mother!" This causes Lavin to violently react to the boy, and Kevin is severely beaten with the buckle end of the brother's belt. Steven Lunny is another abused boy whose older brother Brian tries to protect him. Finn, the orphanage's janitor, notices Kevin's injuries and worriedly sends him to a hospital. Lavin fires Finn, but Finn hires a detective to investigate the orphanage, and word starts to spread in the local community about possible abuse at St. Vincent. However, an investigation is hampered by an institutional cover-up. Because the orphanage is about to receive a grant from the government that would go towards renovations, the town's police chief wants to avoid the stain of a political scandal. The investigation is ultimately buried by the head of the justice department and church officials, and no arrests are made. Lavin and several Brothers are merely transferred.


Part Two

Fifteen years later, Lavin has left the priesthood and lives in Montreal with his wife and two sons. A cop comes to his door to arrest him on charges of sexual assault, gross indecency and misconduct, to which Lavin pleads not guilty. The St. Vincent victims, now men in their mid-20s, are called upon to give evidence in the trial. Brian has since happily married and has two children, but has not seen Steven in years; the two brothers reconcile at the trial. Kevin is
haunted Haunted or The Haunted may refer to: Books * ''Haunted'' (Armstrong novel), by Kelley Armstrong, 2005 * ''Haunted'' (Cabot novel), by Meg Cabot, 2004 * ''Haunted'' (Palahniuk novel), by Chuck Palahniuk, 2005 * ''Haunted'' (Angel novel), a 200 ...
by his abuse and has nightmares. Steven is emotionally destroyed by the defence advocate, who reveals that he abused seven-year-old boys at the orphanage when he was sixteen. Steven then takes his own life with an overdose of drugs. His death ultimately prompts Kevin to give evidence against Lavin. Lavin remains in denial, even to his wife. His fate is left unanswered as is the question, posed by his wife at the end of the second film, as to whether he ever molested his own two young sons.


Cast


Production

''The Boys of St. Vincent'' was a co-production between the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and Montreal’s Les Productions Télé-Action Inc. For the orphan characters, the production sought out young boys with no prior acting experience to act alongside experienced professionals like Henry Czerny. The miniseries was shot over a period of five months, beginning in November 1991. The filmmakers did extensive preparatory work with the boys and their parents to ensure they "fully understood the grave nature of the story,” including working with experts in child sexual abuse counseling and a
psychotherapist Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome pro ...
who was on set to create a safe, collaborative environment.


Release

The miniseries was set to air in Canada on December 6, 1992, but the broadcast was blocked two days prior by the
Ontario Court of Justice The Ontario Court of Justice is the provincial court of record for the Canadian province of Ontario. The court sits at more than 200 locations across the province and oversees matters relating to family law, criminal law, and provincial offences. ...
. The judge reasoned the broadcast could sway public opinion about four members of the Christian Brothers order, who at that time were being tried for actual cases of abuse in the Ontario courts, and thus impede the perpetrators’ right to a fair trial. A day after the ban, the court agreed to hear arguments from lawyers for the CBC and the NFB, which resulted in the court lifting the ban and the broadcast going ahead everywhere in Canada except for Ontario and Quebec. Though the broadcast had a limited reach, it managed to attract two million viewers. The CBC and NFB partnered with Kids Help Phone, a hotline that was available for viewers to speak to a counsellor. Set up because of the “dearth of services for adult male survivors of abuse,” the hotline ended up fielding more than 300 calls. The miniseries was eventually broadcast to all of Canada in late 1993, after the trials of the Christian brothers concluded. Ivan Fecan, CBC's then vice-president of arts and entertainment, appealed to the
Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
in late 1992 to overturn the lower courts’ decisions completely. Two years later, the Supreme Court established a legal principle that protected free expression in a decision known as Dagenais vs. Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Daniel Henry, the CBC’s senior legal counsel at the time, said the court decision "'changed the equation … in the years since, it has become established as the bedrock principle on which all publication restrictions are weighed. It’s a fundamental touchstone for the importance of free expression in a democratic society.'"


U.S. release

''The Boys of St. Vincent'' first screened in the U.S. at the 1993 Telluride Film Festival. It also garnered a theatrical run in New York City, where it received praise from Pauline Kael and
Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...
. A&E aired the two-part series on February 19 and 20, 1995. A few scenes, including one set in a shower room and others depicting verbal and physical abuse, were edited for this broadcast.


Reception

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, ''The Boys of St. Vincent'' holds an approval rating of 100% based on 7 reviews. Positive reviews lauded the miniseries for its approach to a sensitive subject. David Ansen of '' Newsweek'' wrote, "An American TV movie would focus on the courtroom drama, the triumph of delayed justice. ohn N.Smith goes after deeper, harsher truths; for one boy, reliving the experience at the trial proves fatal. And we are forced to look at the monstrous Lavin in a different light. Earlier we viewed him through the children's eyes; now we have the shock of seeing him as he sees himself.” Ansen added, "Czerny's portrait of this twisted, angry man is one of the most complex depictions of evil on film.” Janet Maslin of '' The New York Times'' said, "Telling his story with a matter-of-factness that gives it the solid credibility of a documentary, Mr. Smith observes St. Vincent's daily routine and lets it imply a great deal about both the boys' and the Catholic brothers' behavior.” She also commended the performance of Czerny, saying "As played with anguished intensity by Mr. Czerny, Lavin himself feels injured in ways that a more lurid film might never understand." '' The Austin Chronicle'' said, "The horror is filmed with admirable restraint, with director Smith opting for a less-is-more approach that only reinforces the tragedy of the events depicted. It's hardly an uplifting movie, and it ends on a distinctly sour and abrupt note, but ''The Boys of St. Vincent'' is far and away one of the best publicly funded looks at institutional child abuse ever to come out of television, Canadian or otherwise.”
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
of the '' Chicago Sun-Times'' was less positive and wrote the film "was disappointingly superficial, offering no psychological insight or depth of characterization and simply showing us evil clergymen and victimized children as cliches in a morality play." In 2019, a retrospective review from ''
The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'' stated, "No drama had ever depicted the brutality of trusted authority figures in the Catholic Church (this, in the wake of 1989′s massive abuse scandal at Mount Cashel orphanage in Newfoundland) in such vivid terms, against children no less, in prime time. The film took a cinematic approach to television storytelling that predated the Netflix revolution by two decades. Twenty-three years before Hollywood’s '' Spotlight'', it defined in dramatic fashion the deep psychological and institutional roots of abuse, and the power some have to cover up such devastating crimes.”


Accolades


Year-end lists

* 2nd – Todd Anthony, ''
Miami New Times The ''Miami New Times'' is a newspaper published in Miami, Florida, United States, and distributed every Thursday. It primarily serves the Miami area and is headquartered in Miami's Wynwood Art District. Overview It was acquired by Village Voic ...
'' * 5th – Peter Travers, '' Rolling Stone'' * 5th – Stephen Hunter, '' The Baltimore Sun'' * Top 10 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – Mike Clark, '' USA Today'' * Top 10 runner-ups (not ranked) – Janet Maslin, '' The New York Times''


See also

* Roman Catholic sex abuse cases *'' Dagenais v Canadian Broadcasting Corp'' - a case before the
Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...
that overturned a publication ban on the broadcast of ''The Boys of St. Vincent''


References


External links

*
''The Boys of St. Vincent''
at National Film Board of Canada
Canadian Film Encyclopedia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boys of St. Vincent 1990s Canadian television miniseries Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals in Canada National Film Board of Canada films Media coverage of Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals CBC Television original films Peabody Award-winning broadcasts Canadian television docudramas Films directed by John N. Smith 1992 in Christianity Films set in Newfoundland and Labrador History of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Province of St. John's, Newfoundland English-language Canadian films Gemini and Canadian Screen Award for Best Television Film or Miniseries winners Canadian drama television films Films set in orphanages Films about orphans Films about child sexual abuse Films set in the 1970s Films set in 1975 Films set in 1990 Censorship in Canada Child sexual abuse in Canada