[Small Things]

Mjmills

6 min read

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Mar 26, 2026

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When the sense of God goes, all that is worthwhile in society goes also. Freed from the restraints of religion, the passions rush forth like mad demons to disfigure and scar all of life — Dr. Gardner C. Taylor

Small Things Like These is a 2024 film directed by Tim Mielants and adapted by Enda Walsh from a 2021 novel by Claire Keegan. The film follows an Irish coal merchant, Bill Furlong, played by Cillian Murphy, who grows increasingly wary of the influence a local convent has in his community. The abuse stemming from the adjacent laundry where the convent houses fallen women entangles Bill further when he discovers a young woman in the convent’s coal shed during an early morning delivery. Bill must wrestle with the potential social ostracization that comes from confronting the convent’s actions and the ramifications it will have on his family. Small Things Like These is a quiet movie, one without the kind of pomp and circumstance Murphy captures in roles like J. Robert Oppenheimer or Jonathan Crane, but Mielants, Walsh, and Murphy take Keegan’s work and utilize the medium of film in an evocative and effective way to force consideration of difficult social realities, particularly related to why and how we react to social ills as we see them.

There is an argument to be made that movies like Small Things Like These carry greater significance in the 2020s. In America, we have a president who has been found liable for and admitted to repeated instances of sexual assault (with lingering questions about whether this includes rape of minors), a ruling class funneling tax money directly into their own coffers in broad daylight, the death of schoolchildren written off as necessary sacrifices in ongoing war-making, and a generation of youth disillusioned with their diminishing prospects resigning to cynicism. Watching Murphy’s performance as Bill Furlong, struggling to reconcile the clear moral evil he is seeing in his community with the warnings from his neighbors that speaking up will carry social stigmatization, it is hard not to draw parallels to the current state of things.

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It is one thing for artists or those with political forms of social capital to speak out against social ills like genocide, sexual abuse, authoritarianism, or legislated cruelty, but how do those with limited social cachet effectively speak? The argument that Small Things Like These forwards is that maintaining one’s moral center, actively moving against social ills even to one’s potential detriment, is our best way forward. Individual consciences can spur collective action and, eventually, social change toward justice. A question remains though, is that enough? Ireland’s Magdalene laundries would only see full dissolution after a mass grave was discovered in 1993 and years of public and political pressure alongside corporate movement away from sanctioning such practices. Actions by men like Bill could rescue a few, but tens of thousands of women were still victimized by these institutions in a way an individual couldn’t possibly resolve.

This is the frustrating reality facing many of us in 2026 America. On the one hand, immigrants, many of them vulnerable women and children, are being systemically abused in detention centers with outbreaks of sickness and purposeful cruelty. On the other, victims of a serial sexual trafficker are having their voices silenced by the same leaders who called for their story to be heard just long enough to get elected. These are issues that extend beyond a single figurehead or political body, it is difficult to fully dissociate from the corruption that seems to have seeded its way into every facet of modern life. There are certainly bodies willing to call out these abuses en masse (e.g. No Kings and ICE Out protests, etc.), but progress is slow and the difficulty inherent to such movements is maintaining individual momentum. Bill maintains his moral center, his actions ultimately attest to a desire to stand up to evil rather than quietly acquiesce to it, but there is a toll that such actions take. Small Things Like These leaves this outcome unresolved and maybe that is a more encouraging note to end on than the reality that such actions demand repeated and tedious repetition.

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But to what end? It is suggested to Bill by several others that he simply let things pass by his notice: speaking out could compromise his family’s position in the community. Seemingly in support of this approach, the closure of Magdalene laundries was only partly influenced by public pressure. The corporate shift, a lessening of the institution’s relevance, played a much more significant role in their eventual dissolution. The unfortunate reality is that in societies where capital is the primary driver, abuse can and will be overlooked. The pricking of Bill’s conscience alone cannot bring down an institution that is a benefit not just to a single convent, but to government bodies, and a community willing to accept the compromise of abuse if it can be monetized.

But that is why I find Small Things Like These to be such an encouragement. As a Christian in America in 2026, far removed from the fictional Bill in Ireland in 1985, it can be difficult to know when and how to speak. Small Things Like These argues that there is still something to be said for quiet, faithful acts of resistance. Now, to be fair, I think the smarmy nonsense I post on social media pales in comparison to the work people are doing to shelter immigrants targeted by ICE or protesters willing to risk physical assault or arrest to give voice to the voiceless, but Bill is not a perfect ally of the people he is trying to protect either. He struggles to reconcile the risk of speaking out with the pangs on his conscience. He tries to rationalize away what he sees, justify how he isn’t able to involve himself because of other, greater responsibilities. But ultimately, he reconciles this struggle and chooses to act.

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Small Things Like These is not “Christian” in the way so many Sound of Freedom’s or Overcomer’s are, but the quiet axiom it emphasizes, the ways each of us are responsible for playing a part in a greater movement toward change, is something I found compelling. It is a movie that exemplifies an idea that I am frequently reminded of by my wife. Sometimes you don’t need to do everything all of the time; sometimes you just need to show up for people in the situations they are in and push for justice in the places you find yourself.

Our Creator sacrificed everything on our behalf and there is a rich historical record of faithful martyrs standing up to empires in the name of justice, so I see no justification for us as American Christians to be leaving the work of justice to our Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, agnostic, or atheist sisters and brothers. Our collective moral vision has become clouded and it is worth asking the question: at what point does the small but steady stream of injustice demand a response? Whether we agree on what justice looks like in actual practice, we all as created beings have a mandate to pursue justice and Small Things Like These functions as a quiet reminder of that truth.

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The theme of individuals pushing for change is something that Mielants and Murphy explored again in their 2025 film, Steve. I recommend that film as well, particularly as someone who thinks education and educators working with under-served youth should be given more representation and recognition.