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Overview

User Rating:
7.3/10   1,386 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 36% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Aisling Walsh (writer) &
Kevin Byron Murphy (writer) ...
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Contact:
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Release Date:
22 August 2003 (Denmark) more
Genre:
Tagline:
Four walls. One faith. No identity. more
Plot:
"Song for a Raggy Boy" is based on the true story of a single teacher's courage to stand up against an untouchable prefect's sadistic disciplinary regime and other abuse in a Catholic Reformatory and Industrial School in 1939 Ireland. full summary | add synopsis
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Awards:
14 wins & 6 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(5 articles)
'The Guards' Shoot Underway in Galway
 (From IFTN. 27 October 2009, 12:29 AM, PDT)

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User Comments:
A terrible catalogue of abuse more (29 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Aidan Quinn ... William Franklin

Iain Glen ... Brother John
Marc Warren ... Brother Mac
Dudley Sutton ... Brother Tom
Alan Devlin ... Father Damian

Stuart Graham ... Brother Whelan
John Travers ... Liam Mercier 636
Chris Newman ... Patrick Delaney 743
Andrew Simpson ... Gerard Peters 458
Mark Butler ... Downey 913
Bernard Manning ... Rogers 855
Samuel Bright ... Ryan 126

Robert Sheehan ... O Reilly 58
Caoimhin 'Tojo' Barra Doherty ... Murphy 338 (as Caoimhin 'Tojo' Barry Doherty)
Michael McGee ... Lynch 76
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Drengene fra Skt. Judes (Denmark)
Los Ninos de San Judas (Spain: Catalan title)
Los niños de San Judas (Spain)
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Runtime:
100 min
Language:
Color:
Sound Mix:
Filming Locations:

FAQ

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful.
A terrible catalogue of abuse, 17 March 2006
8/10
Author: Martin Bradley (MOscarbradley@aol.com) from Derry, Ireland

The catalogue of abuse perpetrated by the clergy in Ireland against the children in their care has long been in the public domain. Tentatively only now is the cinema beginning to address the issue, firstly with Peter Mullan's "The Magdalene Sisters", which wavered between broad comedy and tragedy to disconcerting effect and now with Aisling Walsh's superb "Song for a Raggy Boy", an altogether bleaker affair; indeed at times this is virtually unwatchable so intense is the brutality it depicts.

Aidan Quinn is the first lay-teacher in an Irish reform school run by the Christian Brothers, (hardly an apt term), in the Ireland of 1939. The system of abuse he encounters is so all encompassing that he seems powerless to do anything about it despite winning the approval of the boys. This is a deeply troubling, (and in the end, very moving) film beautifully directed by the young Irish director Aisling Walsh whose lack of technique is all the more unsettling.

It is also superbly played, in particular by the boys, non-professionals all and by Quinn, Iain Glen as the sadistic and evil brother at the centre, Marc Warren as the weak-willed, sexually driven brother, (his is the most emotionally complex character), and by that great and undervalued British actor Dudley Sutton. Flashbacks to Quinn's part in the Spanish Civil War may be ill-judged but this remains a spare, unsettling film which should be mandatory viewing for Catholics everywhere.

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