Grey, 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.

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.

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's poem "Comrades" across the playground.

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.

[2] In The Guardian, 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.

"[3] In his review for Variety, 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.