Song For a Raggy Boy is a 2003 film directed by Aisling Walsh. It is based on the book of the same name by Patrick Galvin and is based on true events.
Plot
The film is set in 1939, on the brink of World War II, in the St. Judes Reformatory School, a ruthless Irish school for boys. Gray, gloomy and ruled by the sadistic Brother John (Iain Glen), the school prefers punishment to rehabilitation. But new lay teacher William Franklin (Aidan Quinn), fresh from the frontline of the Spanish Civil War, fights to liberate the boys from their oppressors.
Two young boys have key roles in the film. 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 priests use. Franklin, however, always uses the boys' names. Delaney is an attractive boy and he receives the unwelcome attentions of a pedophile priest, Brother Mac (Marc Warren), who molests and rapes the boy in the school toilets. The boy tells a visiting priest in confession, but nothing is done.
The other boy is 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 sympathisers. Mercier and Franklin both challenge the authority of Brother John - Mercier by trying to stop the vicious beating of two brothers, and Franklin by stepping in and actually stopping the whipping. Brother John loses control 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. At Mercier's funeral Franklin tells the other boys that his death was murder, before kissing the coffin. After Brothers John and Mac are taken away, Franklin decides he has to leave the school, but is persuaded to stay at the last minute by Delaney reciting a moving poem across the playground. Franklin drops his bags and, in a touching final scene, 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 raising finance. One such casting problem was finding the ideal boy to play Liam Mercier, who the director felt was vital to cast well. Eventually, they auditioned a boy from an Irish boxing club with no previous acting experiences: that boy was John Travers.
Aidan Quinn had been attached to the script for two and a half years before production. It was filmed solely on location in Spain and six weeks in Ballyvourney Cork, Ireland and also in Macroom Cork, Ireland
Main cast
See also
External links
