Yes, The Boys of St. Vincent (1992) is based on true events. The movie is a dramatization of the sexual abuse scandal at the Mount Cashel Orphanage in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, where numerous boys were subjected to physical and sexual abuse by some of the staff and Christian Brothers who ran the institution.
What is the true story behind the movie The Boys of St. Vincent (1992)?
The Boys of St. Vincent is a Canadian television movie that chronicles the sexual abuse of children by members of the Catholic Church in Newfoundland during the 1970s and early 1980s. The movie is based on a real-life scandal that rocked Canada in the late 1980s, known as the Mount Cashel Orphanage abuse scandal.
The Mount Cashel Orphanage was run by the Christian Brothers, a Catholic religious order, and was home to over 300 boys. Several former residents of the orphanage came forward in the late 1980s to reveal a culture of physical and sexual abuse that had taken place during their time there. The boys had been subjected to beatings, rape, and other forms of sexual abuse at the hands of the Christian Brothers.
The scandal gained national attention, with several documentaries and news reports covering the story. The Boys of St. Vincent is a fictionalized account of the events, but the movie draws heavily on the testimonies of the victims and the subsequent criminal trials of the abusers.
The movie tells the story of one boy, Kevin Reevey (played by Johnny Morina), who is placed in the care of the Christian Brothers at the St. Vincent orphanage. Kevin is repeatedly abused by Brother Lavin (played by Henry Czerny) and other members of the Christian Brothers. The abuse is discovered by a social worker, who brings the case to the attention of the authorities.
The movie is a harrowing account of the abuse suffered by the boys at the orphanage, and the trauma that follows them into adulthood. It also highlights the complicity of the Catholic Church in covering up the abuse and protecting the perpetrators. The Mount Cashel scandal led to a public inquiry and a major overhaul of child protection laws in Canada.