The Boys of St. Vincent (film)
The Boys of St. Vincent is a Canadian made-for-TV movie that stirred a controversy when it was first broadcasted in Canadian television in 1993. The movie, directed by John N. Smith, tells the story of Brother Lavin, a pedophile working as the director of a boys orphanage. Based on several true stories, part one takes place in 1975 (dir. in 1992), and part two in 1990 (dir. in 1993), documenting the trial of Brother Lavin.
The fact that the movie, as suggested by several analyses, significantly disrupts the conventions of the American made-for-TV genre and takes a critical and highly controversial examination of pedophilia (suggesting, through visual tricks, that Brother Lavin may really have loved the boys he abused) caused a big controversy. In Canada CBC was not allowed to broadcast the movie in two provinces as the authorities thought it could interfere with the contemporary trials of several Brothers from a northern Ontario orphanage. When it was broadcasted in the United States one year later, a similar controversy began.
Further reading
- Jeannette Sloniowski, "Violations: The Boys of St. Vincent'," Canadian Journal of Communication 21, no. 3 (1996)
- Kevin Ohi, "Molestation 101: child abuse, homophobia, and The boys of St. Vincent," GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 6, no. 2 (2000): 195–248.
- The Boys of St. Vincent at The Museum of Broadcast Communications.
