''Song for a Raggy Boy'' is an 2003 Irish

historical drama A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romance film, romances, adventure f ...

film directed by

Aisling Walsh Aisling Walsh (born 1958) is an Irish screenwriter and director. Her work has screened at festivals around the world and she has won several accolades, including a BAFTA TV Award for '' Room at the Top'' (2012) as well as an Irish Film and Telev ...

. It is based on the book of the same name by

Patrick Galvin Patrick Galvin (15 August 1927 – 10 May 2011) was an Irish poet, singer, playwright, and prose and screenwriter born in Cork's inner city. Biography Galvin was born in Cork in 1927 at a time of great political transition in Ireland. His moth ...

and is based on true events.

Plot

In 1939, on the brink of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the St. Judes Reformatory is a ruthless

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

school for boys. Grey, gloomy and ruled by the

sadistic Sadism may refer to: * Sadomasochism, the giving or receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation * Sadistic personality disorder, an obsolete term proposed for individuals who derive pleasure from the s ...

Brother John (

Iain Glen Iain Alan Sutherland Glen (born 24 June 1961) is a Scottish actor. Glen is best known for his roles as Dr. Alexander Isaacs/Tyrant in three films of the ''Resident Evil'' film series (2004–2016) and as Ser Jorah Mormont in the HBO fantasy te ...

), the school prefers punishment to rehabilitation. But new lay teacher William Franklin (

Aidan Quinn Aidan Quinn (born March 8, 1959) is an American actor who made his film debut in '' Reckless'' (1984). He has starred in over 80 feature films, including ''Desperately Seeking Susan'' (1985), '' The Mission'' (1986), ''Stakeout'' (1987), ''Aval ...

), fresh from the frontline of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

, fights to liberate the boys from their oppressors. Patrick Delaney 743 ( Chris Newman) arrives at the school aged 13 and a half. He, like all the boys, is allocated a number which the brothers use. Franklin, however, always uses the boys' names. Delaney is an attractive boy and he receives the unwelcome attentions of a

pedophile Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty a ...

brother, Brother Mac (

Marc Warren Marc Warren (born 20 March 1967) is an English actor, known for his British television roles. His roles have included Albert Blithe in '' Band of Brothers'', Danny Blue in '' Hustle'', Dougie Raymond in '' The Vice'', Dominic Foy in '' Stat ...

), who molests and

rapes Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or agai ...

the boy in the school toilets. The boy tells of his ordeal to a visiting priest in

confession A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of persons – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information th ...

only to be told not to say a word to anyone. Word of Delaney's confession reaches Brother Mac who punishes the boy by forcing him under a cold shower naked, then giving him his clothes so they are also wet. Liam Mercier 636 (John Travers). Mercier is one of the few boys who can read and write, but is otherwise a hard case. Franklin befriends the boy and interests him in poetry, some of it written by

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

sympathisers. Mercier and Franklin both challenge the authority of Brother John - Mercier by protesting at the vicious beating of two brothers on Christmas Day, and Franklin by stepping in and actually stopping the whipping. Brother John bides his time and, having tricked Mercier into coming out of class, beats him continuously in front of Brother Mac in the refectory. Franklin is eventually told by Brother Mac that Mercier is in the refectory, after which Franklin discovers Mercier's dead body. He carries the corpse out of the room. Livid, Franklin attacks Brother John, calling him a murderer. Brothers John and Mac are taken from the school by the Church authorities. At Mercier's funeral, Franklin tells the other boys that his death was murder, before kissing the coffin. Franklin decides he has to leave the school, but is persuaded to stay at the last minute when he is moved by Delaney reciting

Eva Gore-Booth Eva Selina Laura Gore-Booth (22 May 1870 – 30 June 1926) was an Irish poet, theologian, and dramatist, and a committed suffragist, social worker and labour activist. She was born at Lissadell House, County Sligo, the younger sister of C ...

's poem "Comrades" across the playground. Franklin drops his bags and Delaney runs towards Franklin and jumps up to hug him while all the other boys gather round in love and affection for their saviour.

Production

The film took over four years to make because of difficulties getting it started; some were casting problems, others to do with raising finance. One casting problem was finding the ideal boy to play Liam Mercier, who the director felt was vital to cast well. Eventually they auditioned John Travers, a boy from an Irish boxing club with no previous acting experience. Aidan Quinn had been attached to the script for two and a half years before production. It was filmed on location in Co Cork and Co Kerry Ireland. The school scenes were filmed at Coláiste Iosagán, a former De La Salle college in

Ballyvourney Ballyvourney ( ga, Baile Bhuirne , meaning 'Town of the Beloved', also spelled ) is a Gaeltacht village in southwest County Cork, Ireland. It is a civil parish in the barony of Muskerry West, and is also an ecclesiastical parish in the Roman Cat ...

. It was an Irish/Danish/UK/Spanish co-production, and was produced with the support of investment incentives for the Irish film industry provided by the Government of Ireland.

Main cast

... William Franklin *

... Brother John *

... Brother Mac *

Dudley Sutton Dudley Sutton (6 April 1933 – 15 September 2018) was an English actor. Active in radio, stage, film and television, he was arguably best known for his role of Tinker Dill in the BBC Television drama series ''Lovejoy''. Early life Sutton was ...

... Brother Tom * Alan Devlin ... Father Damian *

Stuart Graham Leslie Stuart Graham (born 9 January 1942) is a British former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Saloon car racing specialist. He is the son of the 1949 500cc world champion, Leslie Graham. Graham started racing in 1961 on a 125 cc ...

... Brother Whelan * John Travers ... Liam Mercier 636 * Chris Newman ... Patrick Delaney 743 * Andrew Simpson ... Gerard Peters 458

The Boys

Robert Sheehan Robert Sheehan (born 7 January 1988) is an Irish actor. He is best known for television roles such as Nathan Young in ''Misfits'', Darren Treacy in '' Love/Hate'', and Klaus Hargreeves in ''The Umbrella Academy,'' as well as film roles such a ...

...O'Reilly 58 *Caoimhin 'Tojo' Barra Doherty ...Murphy 388 *Samuel Bright ...Ryan 126 *Mark Butler...Downey 913 * Bernard Manning ...Rodgers 855 *Michael McGee ...Lynch 76 *John Collins ...O Connor 252 *Michael Scott ...Flynn 144 *Robert White ...Galvin 544 *Michael Sloan ...Sean Peters 568

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, which categorizes reviews as positive or negative only, the film has an approval rating of 67% calculated based on 6 critics comments. By comparison, with the same opinions being calculated using a

weighted arithmetic mean The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

, the rating is 5,80/10. In ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', Peter Bradshaw rated it 2/5 stars saying, "it's a formula beloved since ''Nicholas Nickleby'' and ''Dotheboys Hall'', but here given a new miserabilist anti-clerical spin and imbued with Hollywood-ised cliche of goodies and baddies. And the sugar-rush happy ending is just a joke." In his review for ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', David Rooney said that "director Aisling Walsh for the most part brings an admirably even-handed approach to brutal material in ''Song For a Raggy Boy'' (...) While the screenplay judiciously avoids blanket accusations by confining the truly sadistic behavior to one priest, the film underlines the moral fragility of the Church."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Song For A Raggy Boy 2003 films 2003 drama films Irish historical drama films Danish historical drama films Spanish historical drama films English-language Irish films English-language Spanish films English-language Danish films Films set in 1939 2003 in Christianity Films based on Irish novels Media coverage of Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals Films about pedophilia 2000s English-language films 2000s historical drama films