Last Updated on November 8, 2024 by
Small Things Like These is a 2024 Drama Movie directed by Tim Mielants and written by Enda Walsh, and Claire Keegan. The film stars Cillian Murphy, Eileen Walsh, and Emily Watson with a runtime of 1 hour 38 minutes, theatre released on November 08, 2024.
Small Things Like These is a thought-provoking movie directed by Tim Mielants and based on a novella by Claire Keegan. This film is the second work of Keegan that was adapted into a movie. Similar to her previous work, Foster, which was also turned into the movie titled The Quiet Girl, this continues the theme established by Keegan. The movie is set in a fictitious town in Ireland in 1985 and revolves around a man named Bill Furlough, portrayed by Cillian Murphy from the series Peaky Blinders. Bill goes through a very rural life until he is exposed to realities about the local Magdalene Convent that operates a laundry where young women are forced to work as they are deemed ‘wayward’ or ‘promiscuous’.
Bill is a local coal and firewood delivery man in New Ross, a small town in County Wexford. His life is quiet and repetitive: he gets up early in the morning, goes to his truck, fuels it, and goes around supplying fuel. Despite his introverted nature, he cherishes his family especially his five daughters who bring joy and avert silence to the house. Yet, the latter days witness a change in Bill, who has been distracted and burdened and whose wife, Eileen, observes. She notices that he is not sleeping at all, and while she thinks that it might be the holiday pressure, there is something else that is troubling him.
Through his routine visits to the Good Shepherd Convent, Bill learns of gruesome sights. He witnesses a young girl, who seems to be of his daughter’s age, cowering and forced into the convent by her mother. Despite the calmness and the quietness that seems to surround the convent, it is a house of suffering and concealed sins. It involves unmarried women and girls who give birth to children through forced cohabitation and are then sent to such ‘convents’ by families where they work under forced labor and are likely to have their babies taken away from them.
It recalls Bill’s childhood experiences which he was not able to have when he was growing up. Bill’s mother Sarah was also a single woman who never got married and this was considered a taboo in society due to the cultural expectation of the community people. He is depicted as a curious and sensitive young boy, who after running away from a bully asks his mother for a simple Christmas gift in the form of a jigsaw puzzle and is lost in thoughts about where his father is. His memories depict the hardship of childhood for a child who was labeled ‘illegitimate’. Despite being on the verge of being poor all the time, they were kind to Bill and his mother, especially the widow Mrs. Wilson who rented a house to them and treated them more like her own children.
Returning to reality, Bill cannot even imagine how they could have lived their lives with Mrs. Wilson so lucky for them. He knows a boy who is not as fortunate and is out picking firewood on the streets or a boy who is stealing milk out of hunger. Bill also feels the scary reality that his mother could also have turned into a lifeless skeleton like the young woman in the convent.
As Christmas draws near, the antics heighten. Bill observes a girl from the convent humbly asking him for help. She requests him to take her away from the convent and he agrees but gets scared of the repercussions and releases her, something that will follow him. His sense of culpability builds up, evident through his washing of hands, a futile attempt at cleansing himself of the guilt of not assisting.
Although his wife insists on him “keep his head down”, the events he has witnessed compel him to act. One day, he opens the coal shed in a convent and finds a girl freezing and writhing in agony. She reveals that she is held a prisoner against her will and is scared for her baby’s welfare if she does not adhere to the rules set by the nuns. At that moment, Bill understands that he can’t turn his back and just leave anymore. He feels that it is time to set things straight with the head nun, Sister Mary, but upon trying to confront her, she attempts to blackmail him by saying she will block the convent’s work, which he desperately needs. She even facilitates the education of his daughters if he still chooses to talk.
Bill understands that the convent wields considerable influence over the town, as it does over its ‘rebelling’ girls. The nuns dominate not only the fate of the women in the convent but also a significant portion of the town’s images and economic opportunities. His wife will not dare approach the nuns saying that it will only lead to more problems for their family.
In his rather subtle yet intense portrayal, Cillian Murphy captures the struggles of Bill. He does not speak much, but the concerned and angry facial expressions and the emotions conveyed in his eyes indicate that he genuinely cares and is guilty. Bill, who was raised with the understanding that he must not exist, has a chance to assist the girl in the end and thus becomes a hero for years of oppression and abuse.
It also does not depict the abuse in the convent clearly unlike some scenes in the movie. Rather, it highlights the ways through which the town sustains the convent’s tyranny as well as accepts oppression and unfairness to avoid confrontation. What makes Bill so decent and brave is that he is ready to risk death to save a coworker, showing the audience the consequences of human inactivity in the face of injustice.
Small Things Like These is a compelling and touching novel that tells the story of an ordinary man standing up against the Ruler’s might and public opinion when he has to act rightfully, no matter what his life costs. Concerning the Magdalene laundries depicted in the movie, it is important to know that they were real and functioned until 1998 affecting the lives of numerous women and their children. The film doesn’t attempt to overemphasize suffering and does not aim at emotional manipulation but remains faithful to Keegan’s subtle prose, and it is punctuated by Cillian Murphy’s thoughtful portrayal that anchors this rather earnest yet poignant drama.
Small Things Like These 2024 Parents Guide
Small Things Like These is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Rating (MPA) for thematic material.
Violence and Abuse: One of the issues portrayed in the movie is the suffering and abuse of young girls at the Magdalene laundries. It is notable that while physical abuse does not occur on camera, there are specific scenes that point to it implicitly.
The young girl is kidnapped and brought to the convent as an example of the pressure that women of ill repute face from society and their immediate family members. Bill comes across a young girl shivering in a coal shed and it is evident that she is in a lot of pain and so helpless. Her struggle marks the plight of all the nuns and victims of the convent.
Language: There is proper use of dialogue involving both serious and emotional dialogues while there lacks no explicit or vulgar language.
Sexual Content: The film alludes to unmarried women giving birth to children implying forced cohabitation involvement. However, these elements are only suggested but not portrayed in whichever way within the show.
Substance Use: There is no display of alcohol, drug use, or smoking in this movie.
Summary: Though Small Things Like These can be considered to fall under the category of a PG-13 movie, its mature storyline and subject matter would be more suitable for audiences willing to delve into important, thought-provoking themes. It is crucial for kids because it has many emotionally intensive scenes and elements of suffering but it can be viewed as an important film that raises the issues of courage and moral choice.
