Rating: 
Summary: Muddled Film
Review: I was confused by what this film was trying to be - part war-time IRA drama, part prison flick, part romance. It unfortunately didn't work with all of these disparate elements. Sean Hatosy plays Brendan Behan, a young Irishman who smuggles explosives into Britain (In real life, Behan was an author, but I have to admit that I'm unfamiliar with his work). He's sent to a borstal (British juvenile hall) and befriends a young gay Jewish sailor (?). At least I think that's what was going on...the DVD's sound was hopelessly muddled and there were no captions (!). I found it rather hard to follow at times. There are also a number of cliches and an unbelievable romance with the daughter of the Borstal warden. The DVD also doesn't offer any extras - it would have been nice if they'd offered a little more info about the real-life Brendan Behan. On the plus side, Sean Hatosy gives a very good performance, moving beyond the mostly teen dramas he's done so far. Hopefully, he'll get more roles like this one that require some acting. Overall, a disappointing movie.
Rating:
Summary: Muddled Film
Review: I was confused by what this film was trying to be - part war-time IRA drama, part prison flick, part romance. It unfortunately didn't work with all of these disparate elements. Sean Hatosy plays Brendan Behan, a young Irishman who smuggles explosives into Britain (In real life, Behan was an author, but I have to admit that I'm unfamiliar with his work). He's sent to a borstal (British juvenile hall) and befriends a young gay Jewish sailor (?). At least I think that's what was going on...the DVD's sound was hopelessly muddled and there were no captions (!). I found it rather hard to follow at times. There are also a number of cliches and an unbelievable romance with the daughter of the Borstal warden. The DVD also doesn't offer any extras - it would have been nice if they'd offered a little more info about the real-life Brendan Behan. On the plus side, Sean Hatosy gives a very good performance, moving beyond the mostly teen dramas he's done so far. Hopefully, he'll get more roles like this one that require some acting. Overall, a disappointing movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Shawn Hatosy Comes of Age in Borstal Boy
Review: In a touching and powerful performance, Hatosy demonstrates once again that he is a very talented actor. In a role that required him to step forward with a convincing accent for a character with a mild speech impediment, Shawn Hatosy is a believable, brooding young Irishman, who undergoes a metamorphosis as an outcome of exposure to a new environment, new ideas, and new experiences. Supported by an excellent cast, Hatosy and this story are engrossing and take the viewer through an emotional thunderstorm.
Rating:
Summary: Shawn Hatosy Comes of Age in Borstal Boy
Review: In a touching and powerful performance, Hatosy demonstrates once again that he is a very talented actor. In a role that required him to step forward with a convincing accent for a character with a mild speech impediment, Shawn Hatosy is a believable, brooding young Irishman, who undergoes a metamorphosis as an outcome of exposure to a new environment, new ideas, and new experiences. Supported by an excellent cast, Hatosy and this story are engrossing and take the viewer through an emotional thunderstorm.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning return of the reform-school film.
Review: In wartime England a reform school headed by a benign warden harbors troublemakers of different nationalities. The IRA rascal, brilliantly played by an American, Sean Hatosy, is just one of the boys whose antics propel Sheridan's film through comic scenes to a finale of loss and sadness. Sheridan's cutting is quick and deft, and, except for the last 10 minutes the plot skillfully avoids the pitfalls of sentimentality. Warning to new directors: pop songs on a movie soundtrack can be injurious to your film, as it is here, along with a peculiarly stagy ending in an Irish railway station, where the hero vanishes into clouds of steam. Otherwise the film is very moving, and certainly one of the best investigations ever into the rightness of feelings of love. Defying the long and awesome tradition of Irish verbal art, Sheridan demonstrates that sometimes silence is the best way to express the feelings that attend separation. The inmates' production of Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" is a small triumph. The entire film is a huge triumph for director Sheridan. See it in a theater with a good sound system: sometimes the Irish-accented English can be hard to grasp.
Rating:
Summary: one of the great ones
Review: shawn hatosy ( the faculty) and danny dyer ( human traffic ) star in this gritty adaptation of irish writer brendan behans experiences in the british borstal.
during world war 2 ,at the age of sixteen , brendan travelled to liverpool with a suitcase of explosives.however his bombing mission was foiled when he was apprehened and subsequently imprisoned. now forced to do time with the enemy . brendan finds his staunch republian beliefs are put to the ultimate test.along the way he finds friendship , love and the currage to do what is right.a great film youll want to see time and time again.
Rating:
Summary: More or less Flawless
Review: This rose-tinted but fact-based account of Irish playwright Brendan Behan's stint in a British reform school (Borstal) is nontheless an excellent film in it's own right. Set in the early 1940's, it's centred around Behan's memoirs of the 16-year old's detention in East Anglia for smuggling explosives from Ireland for the IRA. The driving force behind the plot is the will-they-wont-they interplay between Behan and his fellow prisoner, the cockney gay sailor and petty thief, Charlie Milwall...a situation complicated by Behan's attraction to the govenor's daughter Liz and the atmosphere of a 1940's Borstal....In all, it's romantic, exciting, beautifully photographed and acted, and very thought-provoking.
Rating: 
Summary: A Surprisingly Effective Little Gem
Review: What a surprise of a little movie. Young American actor Shawn Hatosy (he's from Frederick, Maryland) gives an astonishing performance as IRA teen gone wrong, Irish writer Brendan Behan. Hatosy's "angry young man" is sincerely angry, but there are cracks in that tough veneer that show a sensitive, thoughtful kid wanting to break out. (Measure Hatosy's performance from "Outside Providence" to "Borstal Boy" and we're looking at a young actor of exceptional depth and promise.)
At the reformatory Borstal, Brendan discovers new hardships: living, eating and sleeping with his enemies. He learns however, that deep down, our enemies have the same needs, wants, fears and desires as we do ourselves. His budding friendship with the openly gay sailor, Charlie Milwal - despite its rocky beginning, captures the joy and frustration of having a best friend and through this friendship each learns how to understand, forgive and love. As Charlie, Danny Dyer gives a performance which is in every regard as equally deep as Hatosy's.
Brendan's taking to fellow Irishman Oscar Wilde and his eventual barnhouse production of "The Importance of Being Earnest" mounted by the young convicts for their fellow inmates. This is an absolute joy and becomes almost the fulcrum from which the story veers into its final direction.
Michael York, Eva Birthistle and the rest of the ensemble all contribute fine performances (particularly Ms. Birthistle who, as a secondary love interest doesn't arrive until a good half way through the story and is both beautiful and touching).
Director Peter Sheridan crams an almost unbelievable amount of story into into a mere 90 minutes so the film flies by. The ending may be a bit abrupt tying things up too tidily, but this is a minor quibble in a stunning, touching gem of a movie.
Rating:
Summary: a gem of a movie
Review: what a surprise. a heartfelt and warm look at the good work a prison (borstal) can do when it truly attempts to rehab prisoners. imagine that? a prisoner who leaves a better man than when he arrived! this is a movie that touches on homosexuality. very tastefully it introduces this controversial topic and demystifies it as love for your fellow man. i was expecting a gritty and dirty and unpleasant film. i was pleasantly surprised instead by this tasteful, romantic, and poignant personal gem. it makes me want to learn more about brendan behan which is yet another sign of a successful biopic. highly recommend for all audiences!
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