In the 111 years that the Florida School for Boys (also known as the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys) existed, the reform institution was investigated numerous times for student abuse. Again and again whistles were blown, severe malpractice was uncovered, and staffers were fired—and yet the school continued to operate until 2011, when it was finally closed by Florida state authorities. Nickel Boys, the film based on Colson Whitehead’s 2019 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Nickel Boys, takes this hellish academy as its template. Set in 1962 Jim Crow-era Tallahassee, the movie follows Ellwood (Ethan Herisse) and Turner (Brandon Wilson) as they navigate the segregated Nickel Academy, attempting to survive the school’s violent employees. Many wondered if a film adaption could deliver the same emotional heft as Whitehead’s book. With Nickel Boys, director RaMell Ross has done just that. —Jack Sullivan