Small Things Like These: A portrait of the cost of silence

By Chiara Alfieri

Small Things Like These is a movie you will not easily forget.

Released in theatres on 1 November, the movie aims to shed light on the terrible historical events that saw over 10,000 girls and women imprisoned in the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland.

University of Galway Senior History lecturer and former President of the Women’s History Association of Ireland Sarah-Anne Buckley highlighted the importance of artistic and creative responses to the history of Ireland on the occasion of the film’s release.

“I think that each of these pieces of art and creativity are helping us to understand history in different ways,” she says.

“This film in particular, it’s taking a different perspective and primarily focusing, as with the book, on a man and the idea of some empathy and care in a society that perhaps could appear uncaring.”

Directed by Tim Mielants and adapted by Enda Walsh, the movie draws inspiration from Claire Keegan’s Magdalene Laundries novella.  In an uncanny portrait of everyday life in a small village in those years, every detail shines through.

The silence, which pervades most of the scenes, leaves room for the viewer to perceive the sounds that daily punctuates the passing of time at New Ross, Wexford.

Bill Furlong, played by Oscar winner Cillian Murphy, gives voice and face to the struggle experienced by those forced to ignore the church’s atrocious violence against women.

“If you want to get on in life, there’s things in life you have to ignore so that you can keep on.” – Small Things Like These

Co-star Eileen Walsh plays outstandingly the role of Bill’s wife, portraying rationality and practicality, with the couple in perfect balance.

The aura of terror and rigidity make Emily Watson, in the role of Sister Mary, the perfect face of an institution charged with power.

In this regard, Buckley comments on the power dynamic in place at the time with the Church.

“Social class, gender, religion were very important and they decided who was deemed respectable, while othering a lot of people.”

From the very first scene, the viewer becomes completely absorbed by every detail. As spectators, one finds oneself part of the Furlong household during the Christmas season and at the same time complicit in a collective silence.

The past that continues to haunt the protagonist becomes, in the eyes of all, nothing more than the continuous repetition of history.

Speaking of the interesting angle this film offers, Buckley also reflects on how this piece of history is now perceived in society.

“Where we’re probably at right now is acknowledging that this wasn’t exceptional. There were almost 200 different institutions we did not know a lot about and a lot more survivors and those directly affected have been speaking out in recent decades.”

The professor remarks on the importance of not leaving history behind, and how necessary it still is today to fill in the gaps and unknowns left behind.

“Some people perhaps feel as if we have explored this already but, as a historian, I would be very aware about the gaps in our knowledge.”

The film contributes to this by providing frames of a troubled Ireland.

The spectator ends up breathing at the same pace as the characters, and getting to know their habits and rhythms.

But most of all, one leaves the theatre gratified that, while respecting the historical background, one has witnessed a maximum representation of a reality that is not so far away.