The Chocolate War (1988)

Waste of time

Very best movie i ever watch

Such a frustrating disappointment

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

" The Chocolate War " is a story which takes place in a private Catholic School and concerns itself with the secret goings-on within the religious hierarchy. Among the staff is Brother Leon (John Glover) an inwardly cruel, self-centered, vindictive poor excuse of a teacher. Yearly he holds the students accountable for raising the student activities' funds. In exchange for this suppliant behavior on their part, he allows them to hold court in a clandestine group call 'The Vigils.' The cell is structured from highest to lowest and overseen by a presiding president (Adam Balwin) and his secretary Archie Costello, (Wallace Langham). Both owe their power to Brother Leon who allows their childish behavior to ride roughshod over their lower classmates by assigning them to petty pranks. Enter Jerry Renault (Ilan Mitchell-Smith) a new student with deeply ingrained personal problems. Pressured by brother Leon, the boys are ordered to sell boxes of chocolates. Realizing it's a repetitive, yearly ritual, the entire student body reluctantly agrees to sell the sweets, all except Renault. His reason for refusal is difficult to explain but what begins as a outright refusal, becomes a test of wills, escalating into an true test of power. The decision made by Renault blossoms into a further problem when everyone realizes his decision to not participate could bring the traditional structure to it's knees. The movie itself is very slow to develop and at times downright boring. However there is salvation towards the end and the cast renders a good solution to an otherwise dull drama. Were it not for the poor directing, gloomy environment and shallow script, this would have made an inspiring movie. ***

I rarely write reviews here, but I had to put in a good word for The Chocolate War when I saw so few positive comments on the film. Simply put, if you are the right person who had similar experiences growing up, this movie will move you. You will not forget it. It is a low-budget film, and it sometimes shows. Some of the devices used to show the brutality and its emotional effect on the lead character are clumsy. But I have seldom been more affected by a film. Rather than say anything about the plot, I would prefer to discuss the themes that this movie presents so well. It is about the authoritarian impulses that lie deep in the human psyche. It shows how groupthink can destroy individuality and human dignity. It is about cruelty. When the lead character, Jerry, chooses to defy these conditions in his high school he comes face to face with some terrible truths about human behavior. The film's climax, of course, brings him in direct opposition to his classmates, and it might feel contrived, except that this film manages to bring the ugliness of humanity into sharp relief. If you take a chance on this film, you might not like it. Or, it might move you like few other films ever do.

Growing up in high school, our year 10 teacher assigned us to read this book as part of our education.We also got to (occassionally) watch the movie adaptation of the novel.I really liked this film as the storyline was good.The Vigils are a secret gang in an all boys school who assign tasks to students as part of their way of saying " we will not conform to the standards others set, so we go our own way." Then Jerry Renault is selected for a task of not to sell chocolates for a set period of time.After the time elapses, Jerry still stops selling chocolates and becomes a sort of hero, as he is overcoming adversity and going beyond his boundaries.If Forrest Gump was around, maybe Jerry could have sold his portion to Forrest and Forrest could have given them away to people as he told stories to strangers on a park bench somewhere.Look out for an appearance of a young Brendan Fraser (before he was in Encino Man, or The Mummy).Its an educational film and should be viewed in all schools as part of the learning curriculum.

This is a textbook example of how NOT to adapt a book to the screen.Teenager Jerry Renault in high school is having a terrible life. His mother just died, he has no connection with his father and has next to no friends. Then he has a run in with a secret group in the school called the Vigils. They tell him to do something and he refuses. Then his life becomes a nightmare...At least that's how the book went. The book is harrowing. Strong, powerful and very bleak and desolate and Jerry is put through utter hell and is almost killed in the end in a truly horrifying sequence. A faithful adaptation of the novel was not going to happen--it was considered too extreme and doubtless it would get an X rating (for the violence). So...why bother with a movie version? Well...they did. The story was toned down and changed a LOT and VERY badly cast (especially the part of Janza). It was also shot with a wobbly camera which made me sea sick and (for some reason) Jerry has acne and nobody else does (?????) And, worst of all, they totally changed the ending which completely destroyed the point of the book! The ending is just hopeless--I'd love to know what they thought of when they dreamed it up.The book is powerful, grim stuff and NOT for kids. It's not easy to read--it's very disturbing--but it has a point. This movie just tones down everything, casts it badly and destroys the book. This seems to have disappeared completely--that's a good thing. Don't bother. I give it a 1.