New Boy is a 2006 short film (ten minutes) from Ireland, directed by Steph Green.
Joseph is the new boy in a school somewhere in Ireland, joining a class of kids that look to be about ten. He is ill at ease not just because he's new, but he's black, and there's only one other black student in his otherwise lily-white class. The other boys in class, naturally, pick on him. A series of flashbacks reveal why Joseph is in a new class: he's a refugee from somewhere in Africa, who has come to Ireland after a terrible tragedy.
Based on a short story by Roddy Doyle.
Tropes:
- The Bully: Seth, the boy who sits behind Joseph in class and picks on him after Joseph doesn't give him the answer to a question on the math test.
- Fish out of Water: Joseph, an African refugee who winds up going to school in very white Ireland with a bunch of white kids.
- Flashback: Flashbacks tell Joseph's back story. He attended a school in Africa before his father, the teacher, was murdered by soldiers presumably in the employ of some sort of warlord.
- Kids Are Cruel: And of course they pick on Joseph, led by the little creep who sits behind him, who tries to smear a booger on him in class and then throws a milk carton at him at recess.
- Match Cut: An audio match cut between the explosion made by a thrown milk carton as it hits a wall, and the sound of gunfire as a soldier shoots Joseph's father in a flashback.
- New Transfer Student: An African refugee has a hard time adjusting to a new school in lily-white Ireland.
- Precision F-Strike: Hazel, the little girl who likes Joseph, attempts to tell the teacher what happened at recess. After the teacher dismisses her, Hazel stalks back into the classroom and says "She's a bitch who only cares about town folks." Joseph and the two boys who picked on him dissolve in laughter and form a bond.
- The Quiet One: Joseph, uncomfortable in his new school. This contrasts with how talkative he was back home.
