I love this movie, and that's not something I can say about many. It's an awkward topic, often covered up, and opens our eyes to a part fo a world that we rarely see if we even think of it. Who deals with the abused, fragile, vulnerable and awkward children in our society? Who tries to make a difference to these lives, and in the end, who avoids being worn down by it? The teachers are shown as human, the children are characters, and the outside world doesn't exist, almost as if they're all shut away and forgotten. Even the running scenes have no other signs of life, as if the rest of the world doesn't exist any more. Just these walls, these kids, and these teachers. Ruaidhri Conroy is superb; he projects the genuine air of detachment that many of these children have; a world which has mistreated them, ignored them and shut them away, so that you rely on yourself alone, and deal with things on your own terms - yet it is this detachment that ultimately leads to disaster. You follow your own rules, and the real world bites back. No wonder that the teachers break, and hurt, and find whatever comfort they can amongst themselves, and the Headmaster, John Alderton, portrays that wonderful 'seen it all before' aura of a man that is fazed by nothing, but has learned to take things in his stride and deal with whatever comes. In some ways it's a fairytale existence; there are no drugs, no sexual abuse amongst the kids, none of the extreme behaviour that, believe me, goes on, but it's not a film for brutality or realism such as we'd see in 'Scum', just a small slice of a very different life. Watch it if you can find it.
