Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Lucia Ayala It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Blake Rivera If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Parker Lewis The Chocolate War is top quality and deals with a range of themes in a private boy's school...power, corruption, the state, conformity. And that's all within the setting of a chocolate fund raiser.Some reviewers have criticized the ending because it's not faithful to the book, and fair enough. But I liked the ending and as someone wrote, it's akin to if you can't fight city hall, join 'em. That's what Jerry Renault (Ilan Mitchell-Smith) did when he beat up Archie Costello (Wallace "CSI" Langham) in the boxing ring.The soundtrack is haunting and it was never released commercially, but you can get the songs from other sources.The acting is top notch and given the small budget (I think only $170,000), Keith Gordon did a masterful job directing this feature.

btm1 I never read or even heard of the book so I had no idea what to expect. What I saw were characters that were caricatures and a director who thinks that good cinema is focusing on a person who is standing still and unsmiling like a 19th century portrait photograph. A catholic school is the setting and the teacher-monk is evil, sadistic and a megalomaniac. The campus secret society is headed by a student who is evil, sadistic and a megalomaniac. The painfully shy A-student looks at girls but won't express any interest in them even when one of them separates from her group and comes over to talk to him. Is there any new message in this film? I have to confess that I cannot give a fair review to this movie because I turned it off after 30 minutes. It was too painful to watch long enough to find out.

faithmbc Pretty good movie. I have this taped off TMC, and the book is great. At the Trinity all-boys Catholic high school, there is a secret society of Seniors called the Vigils that like to hand out special assignments to the other students. The Vigils and the power-hungry Brother Leon are what make Trinity a rotten school. When the annual chocolate sale approaches, everyone participates, except Freshman Jerry Renault. This kind of sparks a conflict everyday when Brother Leon will call the names to see how many boxes each kid has sold, and Jerry always says no. He stands up to Brother Leon, Archie, and the school bully, Emile Janza. I was neither impressed or disappointed by the ending, which was very different from the books. *********out of**********. Rated R for Violence and Language.

wildchipmunk I respectfully disagree with the reviewer who said that "he (Jerry Renault) doesn't win in the end anyway." This was a moral battle -- Jerry Renault represented conscience moral choice fighting against the Vigils' frantic need to keep the corrupt but popular status quo. Jerry's will won... he did not sell chocolates. Other viewers may miss this important point: this story is not about "winning." This story is about the price we pay in order to do what is right. Cormier's story says living according to our own conscience often has a steep price -- but that it is a price infinitely worth paying.