Movies like Song for a Raggy Boy
If you like "Song for a Raggy Boy" you are looking for thought provoking, disturbing and bleak movies about / with child abuse, juvenile delinquency, abuse, boarding school life, corporal punishment, gay rape and punishment themes of Drama and History genre shot in Ireland or Denmark.
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1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below).
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Song for a Raggy Boy (2003)
5K
Genre: Drama, History
Country: Ireland, Denmark, UK, Spain
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
William Franklin is a teacher who was born in Ireland and moved to the United States only to repatriate in 1939 after his leftist political views cause him to lose his job. Franklin becomes the first non-cleric instructor at St. Jude's, a school for wayward boys run by Brother John, who is a firm believer in strong discipline.
Style:
thought provoking, disturbing, bleak, serious, sincere, depressing, realistic, period drama
Plot:
child abuse, juvenile delinquency, abuse, boarding school life, corporal punishment, gay rape, punishment, dedicated educator, child rape, boyhood, reformatory, orphanage, teachers and students, orphan, nude boy, child molestation, reform school, fighting the system, discipline, gay, coming of age, society, power relations, rivalry, rebelliousness ...
Time:
1930s, year 1939, 30s
Place:
ireland, europe, spain
Movie in categories
Most similar movies to Song for a Raggy Boy
The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out realistic, serious, touching and bleak films with plots about society, youth, coming of age, life is a bitch, power relations, boy and school mostly in Drama, History and Biography genres. Some movies like Song for a Raggy Boy: The Boys of St. Vincent (1992), Abandoned (2001), Evil (2003), The Magdalene Sisters (2002), Young Torless (1966). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 93 min.
Story:
The true story of boys being sexually abused at their orphanage ran by a religious community in Newfoundland.
Style:
realistic, disturbing, bleak, sad, art house ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
child abuse, pedophilia, child molestation, man boy relationship, catholic priest, childhood, pedophile, lgbt teen, pedophile priest, homosexual rape, catholic orphanage, child molester ...
Time:
70s, year 1975
Place:
canada, newfoundland, london
Similarity:
100%
636
Genre: Drama
Country: Hungary
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
Áron is a happy child in his family. But at some point things take a different turn, and his mother starts to lose her health rapidly. As this happens, the man in charge decides what's best for Áron without consulting the young boy's ...
Style:
uplifting, serious, sincere, touching, art house ...
Plot:
corporal punishment, orphan, kids in trouble, children, male bonding, coming of age, life is a bitch, human spirit, juvenile delinquency, friendship, boarding school life, teenage life ...
Time:
60s, year 1960
Place:
hungary, europe
Similarity:
100%
44K
Genre: Drama
Country: Sweden, Denmark
Duration: 113 min.
Story:
Stockholm, the fifties. Though academically bright, violent pupil Erik Ponti is expelled from his state school with the headmaster’s words “there’s only one word for people like you – evil… what you need is a good thrashing, and more”. ...
Style:
touching, emotional, rough, disturbing, psychological ...
Audience:
teens, teen drama
Plot:
private school, coming of age, violence, rebelliousness, rebellion, bullying, humiliation, bully, corporal punishment, friendship, abuse, high school ...
Time:
1950s, year 2003, 20th century, 50s
Place:
europe, stockholm sweden, eastern europe, scandinavia
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama
Country: UK, Ireland
Duration: 114 min.
Story:
Four women are given into the custody of the Magdalene sisterhood asylum to correct their sinful behavior: Crispina and Rose have given birth to a premarital child, Margaret got raped by her cousin and the orphan Bernadette had been repeatedly ...
Style:
bleak, harsh, brutal, controversial, depressing ...
Audience:
teens, girls' night
Plot:
nun, convent, catholic church, life is a bitch, corporal punishment, evil nun, human spirit, punishment, religion, catholic orphanage, sexual harassment, violence against women ...
Time:
60s, 20th century, year 1964, year 2002
Place:
ireland, dublin ireland, europe, latin america
Similarity:
80%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: West Germany, France
Duration: 87 min.
Story:
At a boarding school in the pre-war Austro-Hungarian Empire, a pair of students torture one of their fellow classmates, Basini, who has been caught stealing money from one of the two. The two decide that rather than turn Basini in to the school ...
Style:
disturbing, controversial, black and white, thought provoking, serious ...
Plot:
bullying, coming of age, lgbt, torture, fascism, boarding school life, gay, boarding school, philosophy, thief, boxing, prostitute ...
Time:
year 1966, 20th century, 1910s, pre world war one, turn of the century ...
Place:
germany, europe, vienna
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min.
Story:
Based on the Depression-era bildungsroman memoir of writer A. E. Hotchner, the film follows the story of a boy struggling to survive on his own in a hotel in St. Louis after his mother is committed to a sanatorium with tuberculosis. His father, a ...
Style:
realistic, touching, heartbreaking, serious, depressing ...
Audience:
kids
Plot:
coming of age, childhood, hotel, dysfunctional family, against the odds, child's point of view, loneliness, children, family problems, parents and children, life is a bitch, self discovery ...
Time:
1930s, year 1993, 90s, 20th century, 70s
Place:
missouri, california, st. louis missouri
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: China, Italy
Duration: 92 min.
Story:
Liang is a four-year-old little rebel, possessed of a pair of luminous eyes and a precociously indomitable will. His father deposits him at a well-appointed residential kindergarten in post-1949 Beijing, since his parents are often away. Life at the ...
Style:
serious, realistic, humorous, touching
Plot:
children, kindergarten, boarding school, rebelliousness, boarding school life, bullying, lifestyle, social relations, road not taken, teachers and students, orphan, hopes ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
asia, china
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama
Country: Cuba
Duration: 108 min.
Story:
Meet Chala, an eleven year-old boy with a hard life and strong respect for Carmela, his sixth grade teacher. The pair develops a solid bond, but after Carmela suffers an accident, things get complicated…
Style:
serious, realistic, emotional, touching, inspirational ...
Plot:
boy, hopes, female teacher, alcoholic mother, kids in trouble, hardcase students, society, rebellion, youth, dedicated educator, teachers and students, urban ghetto life ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
cuba, latin america, havana cuba
Similarity:
100%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Norway, France, Sweden, Poland
Duration: 116 min.
Story:
Based on a true story: Norwegian winter, 1915. On the island Bastøy, outside Oslo, a group of young boys aged 11 to 18, are held in an institution for delinquent youth, notorious for its sadistic regime. One day a new boy, Erling, arrives, ...
Style:
bleak, tense, visually appealing, serious, thought provoking ...
Audience:
teen drama
Plot:
prison life, punishment, sexual abuse, juvenile detention, island, prison, rebellion, child abuse, boarding school life, protest, isolation, survival ...
Time:
1910s, 1920s, 20th century, year 1915
Place:
scandinavia, eastern europe, japan, poland
Similarity:
100%
1K
Genre: Drama, History
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 85 min.
Story:
In the late Seventies, a Dutch teenager named Frankie, who is the son of a holocaust survivor, lives in a working class area in Holland. Frankie’s mother is taken to hospital in a terminal condition, causing a bigger rift between him and his ...
Style:
serious, realistic, disturbing, bleak, non-linear ...
Plot:
racism, punk, war trauma, gang, vandalism, society, youth, downfall, rebelliousness, life is a bitch, teenage life, prison life ...
Time:
70s, 20th century
Place:
holland
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
In the 1940's South, an African-American man is wrongly accused of the killing a a white store owner. In his defense, his white attorney equates him with a lowly hog, to indicate that he didn't have the sense to know what he was doing. ...
Style:
powerful, uplifting, thought provoking, serious, realistic ...
Plot:
racism, black, politics, passion, aunt, blaxploitation, racial discrimination, stage play, false accusation, interracial relations, urban ghetto life, wrongfully committed ...
Time:
1940s
Place:
usa
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama
Country: Denmark, Sweden
Duration: 119 min.
Story:
Set in the blooming 1960s, the film centres around two young brothers who are instantly robbed of their lives when they are placed in a boy's home forgotten by time. Armed only with a vivid imagination and a fickle hope, the boys engage in the ...
Style:
touching, realistic, suspense, captivating, suspenseful ...
Plot:
abuse, orphanage, bully, brother brother relationship, sexualized violence, violence, brother, mockery, corporal punishment, humiliation, escape, male nudity ...
Time:
60s
Place:
denmark
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, Music
Country: France, Switzerland, Germany
Duration: 97 min.
Story:
Set in 1940's France, a new teacher at a school for disruptive boys gives hope and inspiration.
Style:
touching, inspirational, uplifting, feel good, sentimental ...
Audience:
kids, teens, teen drama
Plot:
boarding school, teacher, childhood, music, teachers and students, abuse, musician, children, boarding school life, friendship, boss, orphan ...
Time:
1940s, 20th century, year 2004
Place:
france, new york, switzerland, europe, paris france ...
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, History
Country: Spain, Italy
Duration: 129 min.
Story:
True story of thirteen totally normal young women that suffered harsh questioning and were put in prison under made up charges of helping the rebellion against Franco back in the 1940s. Despite of their innocence, the thirteen were soon executed ...
Style:
disturbing, emotional, touching, social, hispanic ...
Plot:
spanish civil war, hopes, injustice, spanish history, social decay, false accusation, woman in danger, danger, dishonesty, society, betrayal, life is a bitch ...
Time:
1930s, 20th century, 1940s, year 1938, year 1939 ...
Place:
spain, morocco, catalonia, europe, barcelona ...
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA, UK, France, Japan
Duration: 97 min.
Story:
The dysfunctional twenty-three years old Sarah takes her six year old natural son Jeremiah from the home of his beloved foster parents with the support of the social service to live with her. Along the years, the boy shares her insane and lowlife ...
Style:
disturbing, psychological, serious, rough, depressing ...
Plot:
child abuse, pedophile, rape, child molester, child rape, child molestation, prostitute, sex, coming of age, life is a bitch, dysfunctional family, society ...
Time:
year 2004
Place:
indiana, asia, tennessee
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min.
Story:
Difficult tale of poor, struggling South Carolinian mother & daughter, who each face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as ...
Style:
disturbing, realistic, emotional, thought provoking, touching ...
Audience:
teens, girls' night
Plot:
dysfunctional family, sexual abuse, child abuse, rape, coming of age, parents and children, childhood trauma, life is a bitch, pedophile, physical abuse, child molestation, sexual assault ...
Time:
1940s, 1950s, 20th century, 90s, 50s
Place:
south carolina, southern usa, usa
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama
Country: Ireland, Netherlands, UK, Germany, USA
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
Desmond Doyle is devastated when his wife abandons their family on the day after Christmas. His unemployment and the fact that there is no woman in the house to care for the children, Evelyn, Dermot and Maurice, make it clear to the authorities that ...
Style:
sentimental, sincere, touching, feel good, intense ...
Plot:
children, court, lawyer, mercy, family problems, unemployment, against the odds, parents and children, fighting the system, single father, courtroom drama, 007 ...
Time:
50s, year 2002, 1950s, 20th century, year 1953
Place:
ireland, sydney australia, scotland, europe, dublin ireland ...
Similarity:
100%
17K
Genre: Drama
Country: Estonia
Duration: 99 min.
Story:
An average guy of an Estonian high-school decides to defend his bullied classmate. This starts war between him and the informal leader of the class. As teenagers' honour is a touchy thing, everything ends in bloodshed.
Style:
serious, disturbing, tense, emotional, realistic ...
Audience:
teens, teen drama
Plot:
bullying, school shooting, youth, humiliation, vengeance, society, life is a bitch, juvenile delinquency, social misfits, teenage life, mistreatment, friendship ...
Time:
2000s, 21st century
Place:
estonia, europe, eastern europe
Similarity:
100%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min.
Story:
A young, white teacher is assigned to an isolated island off the coast of South Carolina populated mostly by poor black families. He finds that the basically illiterate, neglected children there know so little of the world outside their island.
Style:
deep, realistic, serious, uplifting, thought provoking ...
Plot:
teacher, racism, school teacher, education, youth, racial discrimination, american south, african american, humanist, teaching, black history, blaxploitation ...
Time:
70s, 20th century, 60s, year 1969
Place:
south carolina, america, usa, southern usa
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, Crime
Country: Italy
Duration: 102 min.
Story:
A teacher discovers his calling. Marco relocates to Palermo from Milan and takes a job teaching in a reform school while he waits for a high school position. He tries to understand and motivate his handful of students, reading them colloquial ...
Style:
serious, disturbing, realistic, touching, neorealism ...
Plot:
gay interest, youth, transvestism, homosexual, male prostitute, sexual assault, juvenile delinquency, prison, juvenile delinquent, reform, life is a bitch, school ...
Time:
80s, 20th century
Place:
italy, sicily, europe, milan italy, palermo italy
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min.
Story:
William Hundert is a passionate and principled Classics professor who finds his tightly-controlled world shaken and inexorably altered when a new student, Sedgewick Bell, walks into his classroom. What begins as a fierce battle of wills gives way to ...
Style:
inspirational, realistic, touching, contemplative, emotional ...
Audience:
kids, teens, girls' night
Plot:
teacher, dedicated educator, coming of age, boarding school life, ethics, school teacher, schoolboy, boarding school, teachers and students, youth, hardcase students, boys' school ...
Time:
20th century, year 2002, 70s, 2000s, future
Place:
washington d.c., pennsylvania, new jersey
Similarity:
50%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
Pat Conroy, an ambitious, slightly rebellious idealistic teacher accepts Bennington county, SC's school board superintendent's offer to teach the all-black kids of the pauper fishery community on Yamacraw Island. Staffless 'head' ...
Style:
realistic, serious, suspense, contemplative
Plot:
teachers and students, society, misfit, power relations, hopes, rebellion, dedicated educator, hardcase students, youth, interracial relations, school, idealism ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
south carolina
Similarity:
31%
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 96 min.
Story:
A nearly sightless boy is sent to a school for blind children, where he secretly discovers the possibilities of the recorded sound.
Style:
contemplative, serious, realistic, touching, educational ...
Plot:
boy, disability, hopes, blind character, coming of age, against the odds, friendship, follow your dream, rebellion, fighting the system, society, rebelliousness ...
Time:
70s, 20th century
Place:
italy, europe, tuscany
Similarity:
28%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama, History
Country: France, Martinique
Duration: 103 min.
Story:
Martinique, in the early 1930s. Young José and his grandmother live in a small village. Nearly everyone works cutting cane and barely earning a living. The overseer can fine a worker for the smallest infraction. The way to advance is to do well in ...
Style:
serious, realistic
Plot:
black, youth, women of color, african, little boy, international relations, racial issues, boy, woman, blaxploitation, grandmother, school ...
Time:
1930s, year 1983
Place:
africa, indiana, europe, france
Similarity:
28%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 130 min.
Story:
In the '80s, priests and especially the Father Geoghan arrested for sexual abuse of minors. Cardinal Law, also indicted, and the diocese was aware of the actions of these men of the church and was kept secret for years, until the victims decide ...
Style:
thought provoking, serious, realistic, sincere
Plot:
priest, pedophile, church, sexual abuse, legal investigation, clergy, courtroom drama, social decay, sexual harassment, dishonesty, fighting the system, society ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
europe, usa, france, boston
Similarity:
28%
Genre: Drama, History, Romance
Country: Germany, UK, Italy, Spain
Duration: 149 min.
Story:
A 9th century woman of English extraction born in the German city of Ingelheim disguises herself as a man and rises through the Vatican ranks.
Style:
costume drama, serious, captivating, epic, historical drama ...
Plot:
vatican, clergy, pope, religion, medieval, monk, impossible love, healing power, gender bending, ambition, strong female character, hidden identity ...
Time:
middle ages, medieval times, ancient times, 9th century, year 2010
Place:
germany, europe, italy, rome italy
Similarity:
28%
618
Genre: Drama, History
Country: France, West Germany, UK
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
Two young boys from very different backgrounds become friends in 1933 Stuttgart. However, they don't realize how different they are until much later as one is the son of a well-to-do Jewish doctor and the other the son of a German aristocrat. ...
Style:
independent film, thought provoking, disturbing, serious, realistic
Plot:
world war two, anti semitism, friendship between boys, nazi, friendship, boyhood, religions or cults, against humanity, society, confined, coming of age, youth ...
Time:
1940s, year 1989, 1930s
Place:
europe, germany
Similarity:
28%
Genre: Drama, History
Country: Spain
Duration: 98 min.
Story:
Ourense, Spain, 1940. Every time that Elena locks the door, she locks her secrets. Her husband Ricardo spend years hidden in his house with his children (Elenita and Lorenzo), trying to dodge persecution. Salvador, a priest confused after battling ...
Style:
serious, disturbing, touching, emotional, contemplative ...
Plot:
repression, confession, family relations, survival, life is a bitch, spanish history, spanish civil war, republican, love and romance, clergy, soldier, society ...
Place:
spain, galicia
Similarity:
28%
Genre: Drama
Country: Slovakia, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Germany, France
Duration: 101 min.
Story:
Two amateur circus kids from a poor Ukrainian village, ten-year-old Barbu and his older sister Mimma, are sold to a circus artist called Caruso who promises them a career in the West.
Style:
disturbing, emotional, serious, realistic, bleak
Plot:
boy, circus, youth, child prostitution, human trafficking, life is a bitch, juvenile delinquency, kidnapping, kids in trouble, hopes, dishonesty, siblings relations ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
eastern europe, berlin germany, ukraine, europe, germany
Similarity:
50%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA, Netherlands
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
A teenage hustler and a young man obsessed with alien abductions cross paths, together discovering a horrible, liberating truth.
Style:
disturbing, lgbt cinema, depressing, independent film, psychological ...
Audience:
teens, chick flick, teen drama
Plot:
coming of age, child abuse, gay, sexual abuse, pedophilia, homosexuality, homosexual, child molestation, lgbtq, male rape, homosexual rape, youth ...
Time:
90s, year 2004, 2000s, near future, y2k ...
Place:
kansas, new york, usa
Similarity:
28%
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