Song for a Raggy Boy (2003)

What makes it different from others?

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Everything about this movie is wonderful if you can handle the grim subject matter. The musical score is superb, the cinematography excellent, the writing intelligent, and the acting faultless.I was expecting the subject matter to be exploited, but it wasn't. At the same time, no punches were pulled.Everyone involved in this project deserves high praise, and my only complaint is that here is yet another great movie ignored by the mainstream.I am happy to say that this movie is heart-warming at the end -- in spite of the tragedy that takes place, and the fact that the wrongdoers do not receive the punishment they so richly deserve.Anyone concerned about the injustices and hardships visited upon innocent and defenseless children should see this movie, which is based on historical fact.

This was by far the most touching movie I've ever seen. I don't normally cry at movies, but at this one I couldn't stop myself, especially at the end, when Liam died. The injustice of these industrial or religious schools, the hypocrisy of these people that do outrageous actions in the name of God, everything is so very well portrayed in a dark atmosphere. You can feel at every moment the fear of the characters, it's in the air. The thing about these Oliver-Twist-like movies is that they mark you deeply, but you can at least say they are just art, and not real, the normal action of a sensitive person willing to ignore the problem. It's not possible in this case,when the movie is based on a true story and the existence of these prisons is recognized. The violence scenes were very graphic, adding, I guess, to the atmosphere of the movie, although they could have been slightly less in number. The movie could have done without the cliché of a teacher with a different mentality that comes to save all the students, repeated also in Mona Lisa Smile. But I guess a shred of hope and support was necessary to boost up the moral. Raw suffering and pain would have been overwhelming with no topic. The movie gets a 10, it definitely shook me.

A superb movie. Well acted by the whole cast. Based in a Irish young offenders institution at the start of the second world war, though this is only mentioned inpassing. It's horrrific to think that it is based on a true story - thank god we have moved into a more civilizes way of dealing with young offenders. Being a 'true' story the bad guys don't actually seem to get the sort of punishment (one is a child abuser, the other is a sadist)that a fictional film would give them. Similar in style and story feel to 'Sleepers'.Not for the faint hearted - like 'Sleepers' the sexual abuse is not filmed and totally left to the viewers imagination which in many ways is worse. The violence is appropriate but not overly graphic. Similar sort of happy ending but with a sting in the tail. Well worth watching. Highly recommended.

A film in a typical vein to such offerings as Angela's Ashes, Liam and The Leaving of Liverpool. Fantastic performances from an unknown cast of boys, with the stern influence of Ian glen & Marc Warren as the priests. Aidan Quinn is always fantastic, but here excels himself in a performance up there with that in Michael Collins. The film is tough to watch, with many scenes evoking actual rage at what is going on on the screen. The ritualistic violence, which the boys are forced to watch is particularly gruesome. An emotional roller-coaster of a film is compounded with the bleak pen - pics of what happened to the characters after the film, the reading of which leaves a lump in the throat. One small criticism, would be the glaring stereotypes which, at times, threaten to undermine what is a great piece of cinema. Salivating Priests who skulk in the shadows waiting for the boys to do wrong, along with the old cliche of the one picked on boy overcoming all odds to persuade the teacher to stay, is a little bit too neatly packaged for a film that did not need to end on a high. Overall though, definitely worth a watch.