This article contains spoilers for Small Things Like These.
The historical drama Small Things Like These is the story of an ordinary man, Bill Furlong (Cillian Murphy), who makes an extraordinary choice in 1980s Ireland. The film is based on the award-winning 2021 novel by Claire Keegan.
“If you want to get on in this life, there’s things you have to ignore.” Eileen Furlong’s (Eileen Walsh) advice to her husband Bill is both familiar and harrowing. Familiar because the instinct of self preservation when faced with power imbalance and injustice is natural to the human condition. Harrowing because giving in to this instinct is what allowed institutions such as Ireland’s Magdalene laundries and their associated human rights abuses to flourish.
