Doing the right thing is never easy, if it was everyone would do it—but what happens when doing the right thing could jeopardise everything you hold dear?
This is the dilemma coal distribution operator Bill Furlong (Cillian Murphy) of New Ross, County Wexford, faces when he finds a young woman at the Good Shepherd convent fearful of the situation she finds herself in.
A character-driven story, Small Things Like These shows Furlong’s life before the incident which changes it, showing he is a hard-working, quiet, kind, family man.
Although he owns the refinery in which he serves as delivery driver, he is not wealthy, and it is Christmas, something which causes some strain.
Early in the piece, Furlong’s true nature is known when he gives a bit of money to the son of his friends who have recently had to sell their house and livestock to make ends meet.
One day, during a routine coal delivery, Furlong sees a young woman (Zara Devlin) being forcibly dropped off at a local convent, begging to get away before she is dragged back inside by the formidable mother superior, Sr Mary (Emily Watson).
The location of the woman’s imprisonment is one of Ireland’s infamous Magdalene laundries, where young unmarried pregnant women were sent before the birth of their babies—children they were frequently forbidden from keeping.
Perturbed, Furlong looks back at his past, to when he was raised by a single mother, Sarah (Agnes O’Casey), who was shunned by his family but ended up being taken in by rich older woman Mrs Wilson (Michelle Fairley), who cares for Furlong even after his mother dies.
Furlong’s experience and feelings about his childhood dictate his actions, he wants a better upbringing for his four daughters than he had himself, but he does not want to sit by knowing what kind of place the convent is.
The dichotomy of what is right against what is easy burns heavy throughout the film as he receives veiled bribes and barely-concealed threats to not just his livelihood but his whole family’s happiness.
Someone who firmly believes in not rocking the boat is Furlong’s wife, Eileen (Eileen Walsh), who thinks the family should just look out for themselves, something Furlong does not agree with.
Small Things Like These is not in a rush to get to its conclusion, nor does it let the viewers assume it is a foregone one either, as the exploration of the town and the lives of those in and outside of the laundry are considered and weighty.
Of course, we want Furlong to do the right thing and save the young woman, but care is taken to show any choice made by him will not be without consequences.
Murphy plays the emotionally overwhelmed, torn, Furlong with precision, his emotions at once obvious yet understated as we watch the coal driver struggle to make a choice.
Likewise, Watson is perfectly placed as the faux-sweet mother superior as she flips from being overly concerned for the young woman to outwardly hostile on a dime, working to maintain the façade that all is normal.
The film is historical fiction but the Magdelene laundries in Ireland were very real, with over 56,000 women said to have been sent to them over a 60 year period.
Furlong’s ability to be able to do something to help a woman in trouble is one not many would have had and with every voice in his life telling him to not rock the boat, Small Things Like These shows how difficult doing the right thing truly is.
Small Things Like These is rated M and is in cinemas now.
