Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful movie but a dissappointing DVD package...
Review: "Borstal Boy" is based on the book written by Irish playwriter/novelist Brendan Behan about his experiences in a British reform school (borstal) in 1930's. During this incarceration, as potrayed in the film, we see the young writer transformed from a creature of hate to one who realises that "love is much stronger than hate". I especially like the use of silent moments that convey more emotions that any line of dialogue. Special mention has to go to the main lead, Shawn Hatosy, who briliantly played his character. His potrayal of Brendan exudes quiet nobility as well as a touch of the rouge in the main protagonist. Definately his best performance so far and an indication of the potential of this young actor. The DVD package itself is quite simplistic with trailers of other Strand Releasing DVDs in as additional material on the disk. I wished that they would have a subtitle/captioning option as the movie uses a lot of Irish and British accents that are hard to make out sometimes. The sound quality is a bit on the dissapointing side as this DVD transfer only had mono sound on it. It's very distracting trying to figure out what they are saying especially when they don't have captioning. Good thing that the picture quality is clear and sharp for this transfer. My final grade for this movie is 5 stars for the film but 3 stars for this DVD package. This DVD is definitely a keeper for those who enjoyed reading "Angela's Ashes" as well as "At Swim, Two Boys". If you have the chance to see this release in a theater, don't miss it as the sound experience is much better than this DVD. Or else you have to just make do with a dissappointing DVD package of a great movie.
Rating: 
Summary: disappointing film
Review: I was all ready to love this movie. I've been a fan of Shawn Hatosy since his debut role in "In and Out", and I thought he did a great job in the litle-seen "Outside Providence". In fact Shawn does a great job playing the lead in this movie, as 16 year old Brendan Behan, the Irish drinker with a writing problem on whose autobiographical novel this movie is based. Behan cut a wide and boistrous swath through literature and tv talk shows before dying in the 60's at age 41 of alcoholism. The message of this movie, which seems to be that it is better to love than to hate, is far too simplistic, and i'm pretty sure Behan is laughing loudly at it up in the celestial pub. As i said Shawn Hatosy proves once again what a great actor he is, although his character here does have a stutter that comes and goes at odd times. The main problem with the movie is the utter unrealism of it. After being caught smuggling explosives into liverpool from Ireland as an IRA operative, Behan is sent to an English reform school for boys because he is underage. There he encounters numerous movie cliches, including the big game, the seemingly out-of-reach love interest, the escape plot, and the we-all-can see it coming why can't they disaster (a clearly visible landmine on the beach). That last is especially egregious, because first-time director Peter Sheridan puts the scene into almost unending slow motion, complete with soldiers waving the unfortunate and seemingly blind victims away. The best scene is when Behan and his best mate finally kiss. But this is a mainstream movie, so we have to make Behan also fall in love with the headmaster's beautiful daughter, who preposterously mixes unsupervised with the inmates. (She is nowhere to be found in the book, folks.) Shawn Hatosy is the best thing in this movie; he is very believably as a 16-year-old Irish boy. I'm sure he will escape unscathed from this silly movie.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty much like the book (of the same title)
Review: I was assigned Brendan Behan as a subject for a term paper. I read a number of books, 2 written by him about his life, and 1 biography by another author as well as the movie(which I loved). Given that some events in the movie appear to have been slightly altered or dramatized for effect, I thought the movie to be a fair representation of that period of his life. If the movie is at times confusing, it is no less so than his own account of that time in his life. I recommend this movie for it's actors, as well as subject matter.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful movie but a dissappointing DVD package...
Review: "Borstal Boy" is based on the book written by Irish playwriter/novelist Brendan Behan about his experiences in a British reform school (borstal) in 1930's. During this incarceration, as potrayed in the film, we see the young writer transformed from a creature of hate to one who realises that "love is much stronger than hate". I especially like the use of silent moments that convey more emotions that any line of dialogue. Special mention has to go to the main lead, Shawn Hatosy, who briliantly played his character. His potrayal of Brendan exudes quiet nobility as well as a touch of the rouge in the main protagonist. Definately his best performance so far and an indication of the potential of this young actor. The DVD package itself is quite simplistic with trailers of other Strand Releasing DVDs in as additional material on the disk. I wished that they would have a subtitle/captioning option as the movie uses a lot of Irish and British accents that are hard to make out sometimes. The sound quality is a bit on the dissapointing side as this DVD transfer only had mono sound on it. It's very distracting trying to figure out what they are saying especially when they don't have captioning. Good thing that the picture quality is clear and sharp for this transfer. My final grade for this movie is 5 stars for the film but 3 stars for this DVD package. This DVD is definitely a keeper for those who enjoyed reading "Angela's Ashes" as well as "At Swim, Two Boys". If you have the chance to see this release in a theater, don't miss it as the sound experience is much better than this DVD. Or else you have to just make do with a dissappointing DVD package of a great movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Shawn Hatosy Comes of Age in Borstal Boy
Review: In a touching and powerful performance, Hatosy demonstrates once again that he is a very talented actor. In a role that required him to step forward with a convincing accent for a character with a mild speech impediment, Shawn Hatosy is a believable, brooding young Irishman, who undergoes a metamorphosis as an outcome of exposure to a new environment, new ideas, and new experiences. Supported by an excellent cast, Hatosy and this story are engrossing and take the viewer through an emotional thunderstorm.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning return of the reform-school film.
Review: In wartime England a reform school headed by a benign warden harbors troublemakers of different nationalities. The IRA rascal, brilliantly played by an American, Sean Hatosy, is just one of the boys whose antics propel Sheridan's film through comic scenes to a finale of loss and sadness. Sheridan's cutting is quick and deft, and, except for the last 10 minutes the plot skillfully avoids the pitfalls of sentimentality. Warning to new directors: pop songs on a movie soundtrack can be injurious to your film, as it is here, along with a peculiarly stagy ending in an Irish railway station, where the hero vanishes into clouds of steam. Otherwise the film is very moving, and certainly one of the best investigations ever into the rightness of feelings of love. Defying the long and awesome tradition of Irish verbal art, Sheridan demonstrates that sometimes silence is the best way to express the feelings that attend separation. The inmates' production of Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" is a small triumph. The entire film is a huge triumph for director Sheridan. See it in a theater with a good sound system: sometimes the Irish-accented English can be hard to grasp.
Rating:
Summary: More or less Flawless
Review: This rose-tinted but fact-based account of Irish playwright Brendan Behan's stint in a British reform school (Borstal) is nontheless an excellent film in it's own right. Set in the early 1940's, it's centred around Behan's memoirs of the 16-year old's detention in East Anglia for smuggling explosives from Ireland for the IRA. The driving force behind the plot is the will-they-wont-they interplay between Behan and his fellow prisoner, the cockney gay sailor and petty thief, Charlie Milwall...a situation complicated by Behan's attraction to the govenor's daughter Liz and the atmosphere of a 1940's Borstal....In all, it's romantic, exciting, beautifully photographed and acted, and very thought-provoking.
Rating:
Summary: a gem of a movie
Review: what a surprise. a heartfelt and warm look at the good work a prison (borstal) can do when it truly attempts to rehab prisoners. imagine that? a prisoner who leaves a better man than when he arrived! this is a movie that touches on homosexuality. very tastefully it introduces this controversial topic and demystifies it as love for your fellow man. i was expecting a gritty and dirty and unpleasant film. i was pleasantly surprised instead by this tasteful, romantic, and poignant personal gem. it makes me want to learn more about brendan behan which is yet another sign of a successful biopic. highly recommend for all audiences!
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: How can we judge a film just because you can't understand the spoken language(yes English)? The setting or the circumstances of the event, never mind the part about the CD's additional features (I laughed at that one). Yet those who complain do so with so disparity missing the point the film so obviously portrays. This was a fantastic work of self-discovery but most of all love, and what it can do to a person's state of mind. It would be very inane of me to try and explain why, but the fill can do it on its own. If you are not afraid to admit the realities of life, then this film should be in the top shelf of your collection.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Surprise
Review: I never got to see this in the theatre, so I picked up a copy to watch on a long plane trip. I was completely drawn into the film and found myself wiping away tears at the end. I had never seen anything with Shawn Hatosy or Danny Dyer before, but I'll certainly be looking for their other films. I suppose I can understand some of the other reviews' quibbles, but see the film and make up your own mind. If you liked "Beautiful Thing," you'll love this.
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