34/48
Damon liked the story and the two made the film
Plot
In 1985, devoted father Bill Furlong uncovers disturbing secrets kept by a local convent and discovers shocking truths of his own. While Cillian Murphy was talking to Tim Mielants again, Murphy’s wife suggested that the novel “Little Things Like These” be made into a film. He didn’t expect the rights to be available, but he called Claire Keegan’s agent, who told him they were. After securing the rights with producing partner Alan Moloney, Murphy pitched the idea to Matt Damon, who set up a studio with Ben Affleck to make the film. Eileen Furlong: If you want to move on in this life, there are things you have to ignore.
And the children taken from them
Dedicated to more than 56,000 young women, the Magdalene Institutions are “penance and rehabilitation” Between 1922 and 1998. In 60 minutes: Crisis in the Red Sea/The Electors/Finding Cillian Murphy (2024). It took me a few days to process this film. To all those who asked me “did you like it?” I couldn’t answer. I didn’t like it, and for one simple reason, it was so captivating, so meditative an experience that I simply embraced it.
Small village, closed off, everyone knows everything and everyone
There were times when I found myself not breathing for a few seconds during scenes, other times I smiled, there were times when I felt the heaviness in my chest. This is Ireland in the dark ages, when you start watching this movie you might feel like you’re in the 50s but it’s actually the mid 80s, people were lucky if they had a job and warm accommodation, the Catholic Church ran the show and it infiltrated the institutions so much that they controlled education and therefore shaped the culture of the time. So there’s this story which is unfortunately real and it takes place in New Ross, Ireland. It’s a small village, the movie does a fantastic job of bringing the oppressive atmosphere, even if it introduces the main character Bill Furlong who is doing very repetitive work tasks in the beginning, it’s all part of getting into the mood. Perception is crucial, show your best side, hide the bad, share, don’t think outside the box.
and ethics also add that his mother could have been one of these girls if she had not been lucky enough to be taken in by a kind man
And repeat. In the midst of a nervous breakdown, we meet Bill Furlong, the fatherless child of a young mother who was lucky enough to be raised by the woman whose mother worked. He has a difficult childhood, because even though he was raised by a woman with money, he does not belong in this world, and times are not kind to a fatherless child. He is trying to come to terms with his past when one day, while delivering coal to the village convent, he finds a girl in the cold shed, abandoned overnight. His struggle between personal interests and doing the right thing is strong, he has 5 daughters and the nuns control their education, so the future prospects of his talented daughters, whom he loves and for whom he has worked all his life to provide for and do the right thing, are moral and ethical.
It becomes much harder
He’s forced to look the other way, to ignore people who are suffering for the sake of his own family, but when someone who understands the pain looks the other way, someone who has been there and knows what it means, it looks the other way. It’s beautifully done to highlight the darkness and the gloom to fit the serious tone of the story, I found the use of the blurring lenses incredible, and it’s key to the story when you see something you don’t want to see, something you want to block out. The scene with Eileen in the living room is an incredible example: she’s silent, but she ignores it, she doesn’t really want to know.