Song for a Raggy Boy (2003)

Subotica Entertainment Ltd
11 Hume Street
Dublin 2, Ireland
Tel:+353 1 6622226 Fax: +353 1 6622227
e-mail:info@subotica.ie

Song for a Raggy Boy (2003)

| Song for a Raggy Boy on IMDB |

Song for a Raggy Boy

Production Notes

An Introduction
July 1, 2002
The start of production of Subotica Entertainment's Song For A Raggy Boy. Based on Patrick Galvin's novel, the film shot in Ballyvourney, Cork for 6 weeks.

With a cast headlined by Irish-American actor Aidan Quinn (Evelyn, Practical Magic, Legends of The Fall) and Iain Glen (Tomb Raider, The Blue Room) with Marc Warren (Band of Brothers), Dudley Sutton, Alan Devlin and introducing John Travers and Chris Newman. Directed by Aisling Walsh (Joyriders, Trial & Retribution, Sinners), with a screenplay by Patrick Galvin, Aisling Walsh and Kevin Byron Murphy, Song For A Raggy Boy is produced by Tristan Orpen Lynch, Dominic Wright and John McDonnell.

Based on a true story, Song For A Raggy Boy is the story of one man's courage to stand up and fight the tough fascist regime in a boys Irish Reformatory School in 1939. William Franklin's story is a powerful and dramatic journey, from the bullet riddled streets of Madrid during the Spanish Civil War to the confined walls of a Reformatory School. A story of a man's belief in the face of the cruellest of punishment, abuse and neglect, while battling to come to terms with the demons of his past. It is the story of one man's belief that he can make a difference.

Financed by the Irish Film Board, The Danish Film Institute, Lola Films, Zentropa and Eurimages, Song For A Raggy Boy is a multilateral co-production between Subotica Entertainment in Ireland, Moviefan in Denmark, Zoma Films UK and Lola Films in Spain. International Sales are being handled by Lola Films UK.

How The Project Came Together
The project started when director Aisling Walsh first read Patrick Galvin's book, Song For a Raggy Boy. "One of the producers said have a read of this book and see if you think it will make a film, so that's where we started and that was seven years ago. Recent stories were coming out and we both really felt that it was a story that needed to be told and I suppose that's what attracted me to it more than anything else, the human story. Then we started to write the script and several draughts later here we are but we did get very close to making this film two or three times."

Producer John McDonnell got involved with the project 4/5 years ago. He met with Walsh who he's worked with before on Joyriders and they started the process of trying to raise the money. "We were finding it incredibly difficult as it's a very difficult project to sell as quite a tough subject and we spent 2/3 years going through various incarnations and then we took it to Subotica and it was all put together."

Says producer Dominic Wright of how he and Subotica Entertainment came on board, "Aisling came to us with the project a long time ago and said help us make this film, it's a really tough subject and we don't know how to finance this. Says fellow Subotica producer, Tristan Orpen Lynch, "Subotica Entertainment was approached by Kevin Byron Murphy to produce the project. Kevin, John and Aisling had the project and asked if we'd take it over. We went through the whole usual process of trying to get it made. For three years we tried to cast it, attach the finance to it and then about a year ago we realised it really could be made. By the beginning of May 2002 we knew it was going to happen. The finance of the film is a four way co-production with Denmark, Spain, the UK and Ireland, so it was quite a complicated structure to weave together."

Says McDonnell, "Financing any film is difficult, really difficult at the moment and we realised after having been involved in it for so long that we were only going to raise a certain amount of money to make it. A lot of the cast have done it more for their own reasons than necessarily doing it for financial reward and on such a relatively low budget, we've managed to put together an incredibly good cast."

Casting
One of the big challenges with the project was to try and hold all the key people together and hope that the timing of the shoot would, in the end, coincide with a window in their schedules. Aidan Quinn and Iain Glen had been attached to the film for three years. Says Walsh, "I sent the script to Aidan at least four years ago and he said he'd really like to do it. We had an amazing relationship before we even started." Says Quinn of Walsh and her choice of casting, "Aisling has great, great taste in actors".

Marc Warren didn't need to audition for the part of Brother Mac, he explains, "I had met Aisling before. She got in touch with me, sent me the script then when we met and she almost offered me the part on the spot, I didn't audition. I liked the script immediately, it's got a real magical feel to it."

When Irish actor, Alan Devlin received the script he loved it, "I loved the script and the character, it's a long time since I've been so angry and moved when reading a script."

With actors in mind for the adult parts the big challenge was to cast the boys, and in the end a lot of them came from Northern Ireland. " We had to get the combination of those kids right, we went all over the country, but a lot of them we found in the North, I don't know why, they just kept streaming through the door", says Walsh. The most important characters to cast of the children's parts were Mercier and Delaney, the two main boys. Without them being right there would be a whole part of the film that wouldn't work. The casting process had started some time ago, Walsh explains, "I had seen Chris Newman three years ago to play Delaney and I never forgot him and as it happens he's more right for the part now than he was then because of his age." Newman was studying Drama in Dublin when he was sent to audition and met Walsh there for the first time. Reading originally for the part of Liam Mercier, when he went back for the second time he was asked to read for the part of Delaney. "I was very excited when I got the part, I'd always wanted to do a film", says Newman.

For Mercier, Walsh needed a tough kid and had the idea to look in boxing clubs. "Liam Mercier is a really important role and I had this notion that we could get tough kids from boxing clubs. When John Travers walked through the door, in Belfast, I thought if this child can act this is him, Liam Mercier. I was unsure whether we'd get him back through the door again but we did." Even with a boxing trip to Cyprus planned in between castings he came home ready for the final casting in Dublin and worked hard to nail the part. He was then talked into the part by Walsh and dialogue coach Nessa Fitzgerald. Says Travers, "I didn't really hear about the film, my boxing trainer took me to the audition and I thought it was something to do with boxing. I never knew I could act before."

Belfast boy Bernard Manning, was cast as Rogers, and Cáoimhín Barra Doherty (Known as Tojo), from Derry, as Murphy. They were also found through their boxing clubs. Bernard, quite a character, was immediately favourite for the part of the boy that Mercier dislikes and distrusts. The other North-western boy cast was Andrew Simpson, resident in Fahan on Lough Swilly in Co. Donegal but educated in Derry, Andrew has been going to Sandra Biddle and the Foyle School of Speech and Drama for several years. His mother and father Marian and Paddy had friends in Cork and during filming became a part of the production transporting the Derry boys. Andrew had the right element of dramatic pessimism for the role of Gerard Peters, who is always worrying about his younger brother Sean. Nine year old Michael Sloan from the Shankill Road, came from a cross-community drama group, and was a very good match for the role of brother Sean, and even though he was unwell on the final casting day and couldn't get down Aisling and Dorothy made the decision to cast him.

From the same Shankill stable came Samuel Bright, as older boy Ryan. At fifteen he had earlier appeared in Barry Levinson's An Everlasting Piece. Also with previous film experience was Michael Magee, the nephew of the young Belfast actor Joe Rea, cast as Lynch. Then young Michael Scott, was cast as Flynn. An energetic lad from the Ravenhill Road in Belfast, Aisling recognized that the film was about young men like Michael, whom she met at the end of a long day's casting in Cooke Hall half a mile from his home, and quickly promised him a role in the film.

On The Film... Song For A Raggy Boy
Films are stories of characters in a landscape. Song For A Raggy Boy has two landscapes: The confined walls of St.Jude's Reformatory School, bleak, grey and cold and the expanse of Spain during the Civil War. However within the two landscapes the conflict is the same -William Franklin's fight against fascism.

Seasons are an important visual image throughout the film. Franklin arrives in the Spring. The most violent meeting happens on a snowy Christmas morning. The boys stand in the yard that morning, shivering with fear at the sight of the two naked Peters brothers, Brother John and Brother Mac shrouded in their black cassocks. When the boys walk back along the road with Franklin, it's an Autumn evening with the sun setting behind them. When the boys rehearse their various pieces for Franklin - Mercier in the garden reciting his Macbeth, it's Spring, everything full of life and hope.

In Song For A Raggy Boy the main theme is freedom of thought, as it is a film with a great deal of hope. The film is also about the relationship Franklin has with one of the boys who in many ways is very like him. Says Walsh of the film, "When people go to see the film I think they'll be taken on a very interesting journey, I think they'll be moved. I hope it's a very universal story. I think some of it will be very difficult to watch but there is a great deal of hope in the film and I think that the universality of that story coupled with that hope will take people through the film. A lot of it is very harrowing, a lot of it is very dark, very truthful and I hope very honest -it tells the story of those institutions in this country and the rest of the world. It's a story that should be told, those kids cried for help and never got it and that's one of the reasons that I was attracted to this story because I felt it should be told and if it goes anyway towards telling that story then that's all I want it to be. I hope people will enjoy the film but there's a lot of emotion along the way. At the end it is very hopeful, those kids will carry on and he has in a sense won his battle and the battle for those children."

For a lot of the actors on the film there was a great belief in the project and what is a very emotional subject. Says producer, Wright, "I think it's extraordinarily powerful, Aisling is a genius, everyone is blown away by the material and the performances are superb. Some of the scenes are quite difficult to watch, is an enormous power and resonance there." And fellow producer McDonnell, "There is a massive emotional impact with this particular script and we all understand the scale of what we are trying to do. Everyone has worked incredibly hard, I believe they feel they are part of something really special, we wouldn't have done it without that incredible support. A brilliant cast, a brilliant script, a brilliant story." For Quinn, "is a great story about these kids and what they had to live through and how resilient they were despite it all and how with a little bit of encouragement they could achieve great things. I like the story, tough story, dark story. " Says Graham of the script, "This is a very, very good script and the reasons behind making it are good sound reasons and the way it's being made."

For Patrick Galvin, the writer of the book, Song For A Raggy Boy, on which the film is based, his life being part of a movie was to begin with difficult to come to terms with. Although some scenes in the film were not part of the book, it was initially hard for Galvin to see his written word turned into film but he hopes that it will help him finally bury the demons of his past. "Films tend to be more powerful than the written word. There were passages of description that I sweated blood over that now had to be lost and the script changed a fair amount. I was a little uneasy to begin with at seeing an image of me on screen. Making this movie brings back the memories. It is also an exorcism -with the film I'll be finished with it. I used to think when the book was finished that would be it but it wasn't, the movie should do it. I think the film will shock a lot of people, are scenes that will shock quiet rightly so you forget the past and recreate the future. You relive those things, things forgotten but these things have to be addressed and a lot of people never forget with the 40s and 50s being a lost generation, but time passes and people grow up.

The film is based on a true story. These events happened. It is an important part of history - a part of history that we have to come to terms with and take responsibility for.

On Franklin - played by Aidan Quinn
William Franklin is thirty-five and has spent three years in Spain, fighting on the side of the Republican forces during the Spanish Civil War. When he returns to Ireland in 1939 he finds that there was little welcome for those who had fought on the losing side. A teacher by profession, he had applied for jobs but had always been turned down for reasons which, though never stated in writing, were clearly understood. When he applied for the post of lay Teacher at St.Jude's Reformatory School he expected a similar response and was surprised to be offered the post without even having to attend an interview. When he comes to the school he treats the boys differently calling them by their names not their numbers and helping them to learn. He brings with him a huge hope.

Says Quinn of his character, "Franklin would have been a socialist. He comes back to Ireland and because of the stigma attached to that has a very difficult time getting a job and finally lands one as a lay teacher in a reformatory school. Before he went to War he taught at a national school. He's probably had a year with a lot of applications turned down and had a lot of mental trauma over what went on with him during the Spanish Civil War. He has a great love of poetry, a great love of nationalism. He's no walkover, he controls the kids very well. He's found probably his own ally and friend in human and compassionate terms in Brother Tom."

Walsh goes on to explain, "He's come to teach the boys English and realises very quickly that the vast majority of pupils in his class and in the entire school can't read and write so he has a major struggle on his hands. There is one boy that can. It's the first job he's had in three or four years as a lot of these people that went to fight in Spain on that side found it very difficult to get jobs when they came back so it's the first job he's been offered in four or five years. Franklin is a damaged individual. He's also battling the demons in his head and has a great deal of battles within himself, he's coming to terms with who he is, his past and trying to cope and fit in to the present and finding it very difficult in the institution he's found himself in. The same battle he fought out there, he's now fighting in this school with the Brothers, with the regime, with the instruction. But he comes to terms with who he is and is not afraid to fight for what he believes in and not afraid to fight for those children."

Franklin finally exorcises his demons as he battles Brother John to the ground at the end of the film and with the death of Mercier his fight for the children is won.

William Franklin remained at St.Jude's. He joined his majesty's forces in 1944 and went missing in action on the Normandy beaches June 6th, 1944.

On Brother John - played by Iain Glen
39 year old Brother John is a man who would have joined the order at 14 or 15 and believes absolutely that what he is doing is right. That he has been put on this earth to teach these children religion to eventually let them out into the world if they survive that long, believing he's been sent there by God and that the only thing the boys understand is strength. For him there are no nice boys in St.Judes they are dirty, degenerate and filthy little hooligans and it is his duty before God to protect them from the corruption of the world which he believes Franklin is riddled with. When Franklin questions Brother John's' actions Brother John then wants to destroy him.

Says Glen of his character, "Brother John's role is to discipline the children. He was probably institutionalised himself at an early age and that's where he learnt to be the way he was. He feels the best way to keep the children the way he wants there and to organise them is through fear. He perpetuates violence to make sure they stay in their place because his instinct is that if they're not met by a strong hand they will rebel. So the best way is to make sure they live in fear of that violence, knowing that if they step out of line they are going to really physically suffer for it. It's a really tough regime that he operates and in his own terms he's very successful at what he does. He also feels that they're simple, they come from simple families, broken families...In a way their sins are passed onto their children, in a way they are lost, they're not to be redeemed or saved they're to be kept in their place which is a simple place.

"With Franklin he senses an adversary. Franklin goes about doing what Brother John instinctively feels is the most dangerous, to give the kids a sense of freedom, a sense of hope, to educate them and to try and nurture their individuality. Brother John feels absolutely that that's what they shouldn't get. He's challenged by Franklin early on and he doesn't appreciate that and the story is kind of about how the kids are pulled either way by these two polar opposites. Brother John intuitively feels that this guy is going to be disruptive so he's initially suspicious and then their confrontation builds, the climax being the end of the film.

"A point comes where there are no excuses. You don't care what happened to him, he should never have done it - do what he's doing. He should never have been in the position he's in."

Walsh adds, "Brother John absolutely believes it is his job to educate and reform the boys and send them out into the world. He is the only character there that doesn't want Franklin there, he needs to get rid of him and that is the mission he goes on. He tries with confrontation which doesn't work so decides the only way to get at him is through the boys and that's what he does."

After Mercier's murder Brother John was sent to the African Missions where he lived until he died in 1969

On Brother Mac - played by Marc Warren
Brother Mac is 26 years old. He joined the order at the same age as the boys because his family were too poor to pay for his education and his father wanted him to learn. He came to St.Judes two years after he was ordained. He finally fails Brother John over the beating of the Peters boys.

"Brother Mac is Brother John's right hand man. He looks after Brother John's interests along with Brother Whelan. They keep up the discipline and they're pretty much whipping boys the same as the boys themselves, under Brother John's rule and that's pretty much where the power comes from. Suddenly his world is a little turned upside down when Franklin comes along because he's torn between the two of them, the good and the bad but he's spent so much time with brother John", says Warren of his character.

Walsh adds, "Brother Mac maybe joined the order six years before the story starts, and is finding it hard to find himself. He is very unsure of who he is and what he is and is finding it difficult to stay there. There is a lot of him that is quite like those boys and is finding it very difficult but is under the hand of Brother John."

After Mercier's murder, Brother Mac went to a parish in the United States where he still lives today.

On Brother Tom - played by Dudley Sutton
Brother Tom is the oldest and only compassionate Brother at St.Jude's who's been cast aside from having any position of power. He's been there 40 years and has seen boys come and go. He struggles with his faith as he remains powerless to confront the horrendous acts that are going on before him, "I just try to believe in God and that can be hard enough at times". Father Damian wanted him as Prefect but Bishop Conlon dictated otherwise.

Sutton explains his character, "Brother Tom is a very gentle man and he loves the boys, he genuinely loves the boys, likes them, cares for them, cares about them and is very sad about them and because of some shaming in his past he's not able to speak up which is really breaking his heart. Think he's the most spiritual person in the film. He's heart broken because he's powerless, he sees Franklin as hope for he is the first lay teacher to come into the school and he's obviously a man who cares about children and teaching. Brother Tom cares about teaching and he sees this as a ray of hope and is very excited by it and he wants to, as much as his limited power is able, to make the path very smooth for Franklin."

Says Walsh, "Brother Tom is probably the kindest to those boys. He has an interesting relationship with Franklin and is probably the only character that Franklin can be honest with."

Sutton goes on to explain the responsibility of his character in such a story, "Such a devastating story brings with it a responsibility. You have to find an attitude towards it, this is why the character I play has to be powerless because otherwise my own outrage would force me to do something and then playing Brother Tom where you can't do something may seem acceptable. We have to honour the people we're playing whether villains or Saints."

On Father Damian - played by Alan Devlin
Father Damian is the superior at St.Jude's. He wants to move with the times and that is why he hires Franklin. He does not agree that the education of the boys is best left to the church and fights with Bishop Conlon, who is very much against the appointment of Franklin. Brother John, believes that he has appointed a lay teacher whose beliefs are evil and defy the teachings of the church. He was chosen for priesthood by his mother, who believed it would mean money in the bank.

Devlin explains, "He's a bit of a fence sitter, thinks he knows more than he lets on of what's going on underneath...and he's trying to fix it by employing a lay teacher. He is trying to change what is happening in the place but in 1939 it was unthinkable that you would take on the church. He has heard that Franklin is an excellent teacher, knows he was in Spain, and can address some of the injustices in this place. He is a brave man, a man of integrity and made the priesthood surrounded by Brothers."

"Father Damian is responsible for giving Franklin that job because he believes that they need to move with the times and change and time they brought people in from the outside. He fought tough battles to get Franklin there and is really trying to change the system", adds Walsh.

Quinn says of Franklin's observation of Father Damian and how he deals with what is going on in the school, "As it goes on and he sees that Father Damian doesn't quite have the where with all to take a stand against Brother John, things get very sour."

On Brother Whelan - played by Stuart Graham
"Brother Whelan is one of the nicer guys. He's quite positive towards the new teacher, he doesn't come out and say very much and he likes that in Franklin, likes that he will speak up about things that he wouldn't have the courage to. He doesn't like what's going on but he does what he can to clear up the mess that is left behind by some of the acts that are carried out but not got the courage himself to try and prevent it. He tries to lend Franklin his support without taking a stance." Stuart Graham explains.

On The Boys of Song for a Raggy Boy
There are ten, twelve boys that we get to know through the film, all of whom come from quite tough backgrounds. There for different reasons, some kids are orphaned, some there for missing school, some for arson and some for robbing. They have become hard through that system and know how to survive. They are watched 24 hours a day. It is Father Damian's belief that they do their best to give the boys a trade, religious instruction and hopefully a sense of moral responsibility but thinks the chances are that most of them will end up in jail. But he hopes to change that.

Walsh explains the relationship of the school and the boys, "The society of St.Jude's is reflected in both the characters of the boys and Brothers. The boys, Mercier, Peters, Rogers, Delaney and Downey. Brothers John, Mac, Tom and Father Damian. Mercier is the survivor. There is an inner beauty to the Mercier that bullies - tortures and punishes. He is articulate and bright. Desperately afraid of the future and what it holds in store for him. Finally he is the one boy who does not survive because he will not betray his truest ever friend - Franklin. Rogers is the victim (in a calliper). The boy who constantly takes the blame when things go wrong. Delaney is the new boy - like Franklin we follow him as he experiences life within the confines of St.Jude's for the first time. The punishment - abuse and neglect. Peters (13) is the clown. The only boy at St.Jude's that has family and he and his brother are finally punished for it. Downey(15) is the oldest boy at St.Jude's. As he reaches the end of his sentence we know that he will be able to face the world on the outside and survive somehow." Glen adds, "They're numbered not named to keep them in their place. The heart of the film is really in the children, their strength and their spirit in these extraordinary adverse circumstances."
Aisling Walsh and Nessa Fitzgerald went through all their character histories with the boys. So they knew at any moment how long they'd been there for who they were friends with, they knew how many times they'd been beaten by Brother John and how long it was since any of their family had been to see them. Walsh says, "so it became very real for them. They called each other by the character names or by their numbers. Once the initial shake down happened where they killed each other for the first couple of days they then all helped one another brilliantly. Because they knew the whole story the whole story was explained to them, they were acting in the moment. Liam Mercier and Delaney were slightly different as they required more detail. The performances were better once each boy made sense of what the scene was about. Usually at the end of a scene the most amazing thing happens so you keep the camera rolling and there were very solid actors around them that could cope with that, in that way we would get something more amazing and that's what we did. They did incredibly well as the majority of them haven't acted before. They got involved. Iain Glen arrived on set after two weeks of filming and the kids were terrified of him. They are now finding it hard to go home."

Fitzgerald worked very closely with all the boys from early on at the casting stage through production as tutor, dialogue coach and chaperone. "Before they go on set I go through their lines, dialogue and the scene with them, I help them with any problems. They're great at learning their lines. I'm also a tutor for the boys and go through anything extra with them like prayers they need to learn or any singing. The boys have been great, done a lot of work on their dialogue to mellow some of their accents that might have been a little hard to understand as quite a few boys are from the North. A lot of the boys haven't actually done acting before and they've adjusted fantastically. They've researched their characters and how they come to be in the Reformatory school. They have know been living away from home for a while in two houses but they have been getting an really well with each other."

Says Quinn of his young acting companions, "They're a handful but they've also been extremely rewarding. A lot of humour, a lot of wonderful moments in the movie that are not acting at all because they haven't acted they're just basically playing themselves. Aisling and the casting did a great job in finding these kids. You're gonna fall in love with these kids, they're faces alone let alone their personalities. They each have very distinct personalities and once you fall in love with them and if you see the difficulties that they're being schooled under I think you're going to fall in love with the kids and really care about what happens to them."

Warren adds, "I think the boys are really amazing, they are chaos to work with but they are such characters, that was the challenge as well, one of the hardest things being dealing with them. They are never there when you want them there, they're running around screaming, knocking the crap out of each other 24hrs a day. Bernard Manning is a real character. The kids will be the making of this film, they've all been really well cast and they're all really good actors."

Says Sutton of the boys, "The boys are terrific as they're not drama schoolboys, they've come from some of the rougher areas of Belfast and Dublin. Are scheming but not in the showbiz sense."

Chris Newman and John Travers were offered a lot of help from Aisling and the actors around them, especially Aidan. Says Newman, "It's been lots of hard work, lots of running around. Great working with Aisling. If any questions about anything is really helpful. Goes over everything. We have private rehearsals sometimes before we shoot to help us get into character. Aidan's great, he offered help from the start, if any troubles with script could go over with him. Iain Glen is really nice but when he's into his character, very scary. Travers adds, "Some long scenes are very hard but then it gets easier after a while when learn the lines. Aisling helps me with the dialogue, goes over the lines with us just before the scene then we talk it through afterwards. She makes you feel calmer, always makes me fell more comfortable. Aidan helps me all the time, goes over the lines in the scene."

On Franklin's relationship with the Boys
The only beauty at St.Jude's is to be found in the developing relationship between Franklin and the boys. Through his teaching of literature and poetry the boys discover both freedom and hope. The boys work very hard for Franklin and improve slowly throughout the film.

Quinn explains, "Franklin starts to quickly see some of the abusive behaviour that goes on with the Brothers, particularly with the Prefect Brother John. So he slowly, but surely goes to war with the establishment, trying to defend the kids that he has grown to feel great affection for. They have been very much cast aside by most of the Brothers as irredeemable and that's not the way my character feels about them at all. The kids need encouragement rather than abuse."

For Walsh, "Franklin believes that if the boys can read and write then they will have freedom of thought and mind and he's an extraordinary believer in that. And he brings a huge feeling of love. These are kids that have never been loved before, they don't know what the word means and he teaches them that through poetry and literature so they are very different children at the end of the film and he's a very different man. He's come to terms with who he is and what he is by recognising a great deal in those children and actually has fought and won against that system that is very harsh and has no understanding of who these children are that are in their care and that very sour belief that if they teach them religion everything will be fine. Somehow in this school these children who are near enough as damaged as he is, he finds that ability to re find himself again and learns a lot from those kids. We see those kids growing in the presence of Franklin, see when a teacher arrives and starts to open up parts that they never knew existed. He discovers these kids can't read and write, there's one child who can and amazingly has this same love of literary and poetry that he has and that the basis of that relationship and they're very similar." Travers adds, "Mr Franklin helps them in his own way."

Franklin realises that his fight against fascism must continue within the school if the children are to have any chance of learning.

On Liam Mercier (14), no 636 - played by John Travers
Mercier came to St.Jude's when he was 10, his mother died some years before then. His Father is still alive but never visits and he holds the whole world responsible. He learnt to read from an old fella that used to live upstairs, borrowing his books and went to the library as it was warm. He and Franklin are very alike.

Walsh introduces Mercier, "Mercier is from a troubled background. He's, been in and out of institutions all his life and is a tough streetwise kid. He has gone through the system since the age of six or seven and knows exactly who those boys are and what they are and knows how to avoid Brother John. He has learnt how to survive that system.

Says newcomer Travers of his character, "He doesn't trust any adult. Mummy died years ago and his Dad was a drunk and didn't take care of him. He doesn't listen to any teachers. Doesn't want to take any interest in anyone other than himself. Is the leader and has been to school twice this time he was caught robbing again. Mr Franklin helps him, he's a smart lad, he can read and write. To start with Mercier is suspicious of who Franklin is, but then he comes in and he doesn't want to beat the kids he just wants to teach them. Mercier thinks Franklin is more like Brother John but as he gets to know him he realises he's a nice guy, thought he would have been like the other teachers, hurting kids and beating them but in the end he turns out to be a nice guy."

"Franklin coming is a whole new thing to him, he's never met anyone like that before. Is one of the only kids that can read and write and discovers that love of reading and writing, poetry through his relationship with Franklin. Mercier is very similar to Franklin they are both fighting that system. In meeting Franklin that whole other side comes out. In a sense the reason he's got at is because his guard is down. He is the sacrifice of the peace", explains Walsh.

Quinn adds, "Franklin quickly sees how smart and canny and interesting and poetic he is and really falls for Liam Mercier."

Mercier coaxes the boys to learn to read and write, by persuading them that even for a life as a criminal you need to be able to read and write. When he is given a poetry book by Franklin, for Christmas, tears well in his eyes. A verse from a poem explains the way he feels and how he will fight and beat the system, 'I will not yield I will not fall. I will eat dynamite and one day I will explode like a volcano.'

Franklin makes his final dedication to Mercier at his funeral. 'Liam was an imaginative and intelligent fourteen-year-old boy. Full of life...full of energy full of defiance and he should have been full of hope. Hope that he would leave here someday to take his place in the world. But Liam Mercier was battered and abused all his life. Firstly by his family and then by those in this school into whose care he was placed.'

Liam Mercier is buried in the graveyard of St.Judes.

On Partick Delaney (13) no 743 - played by Chris Newman
Patrick Delaney is the new boy at St.Judes that arrives the same day as Franklin. He's no saint and has some history for a boy of 13. His sentence at St.Judes is for 2 years, his punishment for playing truant 35 times and robbing five times. Franklin brings out in him skills that he had but never put to use.

Newman introduces his character, "Delaney is 13 when he comes to the school, because he's been caught robbing and his parents are dead so he had nowhere to go and Mercier becomes his friend, he teaches him who to stay away from and brings him over to the gang. He's a quiet boy, shy, not a troublemaker. At the start of the film he's just arrived. Before he came he was not a happy lad. As he gets to know people he's not as shy anymore, he speaks up for himself and becomes friends with Franklin. Franklin teaches him to read and write so he starts to open up to him, he can really talk to Franklin".

Walsh adds, "He's never been in one of these institutions before so you follow his journey from the day he comes in until the end of the film, so you follow his struggles. We see his progress through the course of the film."

Patrick Delaney finished his sentence at St.Judes and became a writer.

On St Jude's - Irish Catholic Reform Schools
St Jude's is a prison, a place where the boys are nothing more then the number that is scratched out on their mugs and plates. The greyness of the yard that confines the boys. The refectory, regimented and cold. The huge dormitory where beds stand in line after line, end to end in long rows with the boys' numbers painted at the head end in red.

The wall in the yard is the most recurring symbol. It symbolises two sides. It divides the young boys from the older boys, good from evil, right from wrong and is a place where many of the violent scenes take place in the film, when Mercier is beaten or when Delaney is parading with the wet mattress on his head as punishment. The first image of the yard is the boys standing to attention for the Confirmation photograph, dressed in white with blood red rosettes attached. The last image of the wall is as it is demolished - just as Franklin is about to leave St.Jude's forever.

The Brothers quarters are a stark contrast to that of the boys', warm and luxurious. Father Damian's parlour is crowded with gaudy religious icons. Comfort abounds here where a portrait of Franco hangs beside that of the Pope Pius and the dining room, where there is always warmth and plenty of food.

In contrast too there is the garden at St.Jude's. It is the only place where there is peace, space. It too has a past, a history. Gone but never forgotten, the boy's names are scratched out like a roll of honour, their epitaphs.

Says Walsh about such institutions that existed, "A lot of those institutions were run by six Brothers. They were very bleak, cold, kids were hungry and they worked 14/16 hours a day. St.Jude's is full of characters that wouldn't be there unless they had a past. There was a huge fear of communism in the Catholic Church in 30s, 40s even 50s."

Galvin talks of his school days, "The brutality in these schools was so bad, they were obsessed with it. They saw sex in everything and that was their only real sin. It was very much a fight for survival. For a long time after I found it very difficult to relate to people, self-protection and a wall that's taken a long time to break down. But you have to survive and go on otherwise they win."

Says Glen, "What happened in Ireland during that period should never have been allowed to take place. But not everyone behaved the way Brother John behaved and that was tragic in itself that those who didn't perpetrate those crimes felt incapable of standing up to those of which those crimes were perpetrated. Our film does have a fair line on it, it's tuff what happens in the film but I don't think we see extreme circumstances. Typical school of its time."

Quinn comments, "The same thing was happening in all the Christian Brothers institutions in the United States, same thing has been happening in the Catholic Church in the US. The priests dispelled...a lot were from Ireland. Always been these kind of issues to deal with."

Walsh reminds us, "Survivors of Ireland's Reformatory Schools have just started to come forward and tell their stories. Stories of the cruellest punishment, abuse and neglect. Everyone over the age of 30 will remember these places, perhaps even know some of the survivors. These places were a constant threat during my childhood when I misbehaved. Sadly no one did anything and the system continued right up until the late 1970's. It is now a story that should finally be told. This film will help to tell the story of some of the lost souls that went through that system, some survived, many like Liam Mercier did not."

On Coláiste Íosagaín and filming in the area
The location chosen to double up as St.Jude's was a disused college, Coláiste Íosagaín, in Ballyvourney, C. Cork, set amongst the stunning countryside of the West of Ireland.

Coláiste Íosagaín was built as a preparatory school (designed to prepare students for the teaching profession) by the State and opened its doors in 1940. In 1960 the De La Salle Brothers, who were likely to have been appointed by the State to run the College, bought the College from the State and ran it as a secondary level boarding school from c. 1960 until 1989. It would have housed around 120 pupils from the ages of 12 to 17 and it was run through the medium of Irish. The Brothers then sold the college to private investors and it laid idle for 10 years until it was purchased by Udaras na Gaeltachta, the authority responsible for the economic, social and cultural development of the Gaeltacht or Irish speaking districts, in 1999. They are currently reviewing a number of development proposals.

Producer McDonnell explains the importance of Coláiste Íosagaín as a location and filming in the area, "The priority for this film was to find a location that worked. If we had a location that worked on such a tight budget that was going to crack everything. We spent about 5/6 months with various people looking for a location then we came up with Ballyvourney and Coláiste Íosagaín which has been absolutely fantastic from our point of view. The creative element of making sure it was absolutely right for the film, it fulfils all the brief, for what we needed to make all the sets and the general location. On a practical level most of our locations are on the ground floor. We had a scale here that we couldn't find anywhere else. We had terrible problems trying to find a corridor that would work for the scene with Franklin and Mercier and the end and this had a fantastic corridor. The other element to it is that the countryside around here is amazing and we were very aware that logistically filming in the summer time was going to be difficult because we couldn't compete in a tourist area. Ballyvourney worked really well, the locals have been great, really helpful. The extras are locals. It's been a good experience and the people have rallied around and supported us."

For production designer, John Hand, transforming Coláiste Íosagaín did have some challenges, "We had to alter the college quite dramatically. The building it should have been in should have been a lot older than this actual structure so we had to change window shapes and darken it, move anything that was modern to facilitate the severity and the harshness we imagined such as institution would have. We looked at a lot of pictures that exist of industrial schools for colours looked at a lot of renaissance paintings and more abstract paintings that would carry atmosphere. I discussed the project with Aisling at great length before the start. Came here and looked at the school before I even took on the job and discussed what we wanted to do. Once we started it became a matter of trust with what I was doing. Been very lucky with this location and recycled lot of materials from what existed. Quite difficult the whole thing with very limited resources. Bombed Madrid and Macroom were the toughest. They're all my favourite sets. Nice that we had some outdoors and a few sunny days."

Location manager, Nikki Mitton, had to work with the location as the centre point for anywhere else that was needed. "The college was found a couple of years ago so we had to work around that with a radius of forty miles. The college is fantastic as it is so contained. Lot of yardage to set up the production office and lots that can do with the set inside. The college has been empty for the last ten years, we were given free reign to do what we wanted with it. Locally everyone has been very welcoming and filming in this part of Ireland has been fantastic, with everyone very willing to help."

| Song for a Raggy Boy on IMDB |