Sins of the Father is a 2002 American crime dramatelevision film directed by Robert Dornhelm and written by John Pielmeier. It is based on an article by Pamela Colloff published in the April 2000 issue of Texas Monthly, chronicling the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, in which four young African-American girls were killed while attending Sunday school. The victims were Addie Mae Collins, 14 yrs old; Denise McNair, 11 yrs old; Carole Robertson, 14 yrs old; and Cynthia Welsley, 14 yrs old. It was believed that there were 5 girls together in the church basement on that fateful day, but only one survived: young Sarah Collins, Addie Mae's younger sister. The bombing was racially motivated and carried out by members of the Ku Klux Klan. The film was first aired on January 6, 2002 on FX.
Plot
Tom Cherry (Tom Sizemore), a middle-aged man, has difficult decisions to make when the police reopen the investigation into the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama in which his father, Bobby Frank Cherry (Richard Jenkins), was involved. Now, Tom has to decide whether to protect his father or to turn him in and let justice finally be done.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 50% based on reviews from 6 critics.[1]
Andy Webb from "The Movie Scene" gave the film four out five stars and wrote: "What this all boils down to is that "Sins of the Father" is an extremely powerful movie which doesn't hold back when it comes to showing the racism of the 1960s and then building a modern drama around it with a son's conflict. It will be too brutal for some but it is worth it as it will shock and move you whilst also showing a trio of actors playing difficult roles extremely well."[2]
