Recent films in the James Bond series and the Hunger Games series have taken entertaining and sentimental versions of stories about violence in the struggle between the established state and rebels against the state. The craft of the moviemaker lends heroic stature to one side in this fight, thus justifying the use of violence. In these movies,…

Reviews three contemporary movies, "Sleepers,""Girls Town," and "Slingblade" in which the common thread is abuse of helpless children by patriarchal authorities, adult white men who assert power over young people. In all three movies, the anger of the young people and their friends suggests respect for the…