After all the hype of this film, I got the chance to see it today.
It is set in 1985, which was around the time that I myself came
to Ireland, so I was interested from that angle also.
I did think the film portrayed well the way things were at the
time, it had exactly the atmosphere that I remember.
Other than that, for me the film was in reality about personal
trauma, rather than yet again more about the harshness of the
Catholic Church, even though that was obviously the angle of
the Hollywood producers.
Nobody is denying that there was sometimes a lack of charity
in these homes, and the existence of hush money, transaction
of babies etc; the corruption in Ireland was shocking at the time,
it was the norm.
The government, politicians, businesses, Courts,
it was everywhere.
Having said that, of course the Church being Christ's Mystical
Body should not have acted the same way, I am only saying it
as it gives the context of the Ireland at the time.
Times were hard for many, and the reason why the girls ended
up in these places is because their parents forced them there.
This was clearly depicted in a scene in the film.
The cruelty was first and foremost from their families who
disowned them, and if anything, the nuns rescued them, where
would they otherwise be after having been thrown out by their
family?
Furthermore, cruelty and violence towards women who find
themselves with an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy today,
has not diminished, but massively increased.
They are pushed and encouraged to abort their baby,
from family, friends and society in general, and from
"health professionals", without knowing the emotional and
psychological consequences which of course only comes
afterwards, sometimes many years after.
It is impossible to erase from a woman's mind and soul the
memory of a real human being that she carried inside her,
and whom she decided to kill. It is engraved in her heart.
Indeed I would argue that the violence towards vulnerable
persons today is at least as great as before, despite new laws
which seeks to protect, because in practice they are ignored.
Anyone in Ireland today who works with children
(under18 years of age) or vulnerable adults, has to undergo
training and obtain certificate of completion which
mandates and obliges them under the law
to report to Tusla, (a government body for protection of children)
suspected cases of mistreatment.
But this is just another case of ticking boxes.
In real life, in schools and in other institutions, the staff
close their eyes, ears, and especially their mouths.
Just like they said in the film "Small things like these":
"in order to get on in life you have to ignore many things".
The opposition to anyone who reports a case is instant and severe.
"Small things like these" ?
Cillian Murphy is portrayed as a deep and brooding personality,
but after his comment in relation to the release of this film, where
he said that the time in Ireland when a woman could not get an
abortion was like the dark ages, implying that abortion availability
is a sign of great progress and enlightenment, he strikes me as a
superficial Hollywood pretty boy type.
