Author: Giulia Prodiguerra. I grew up in the Italian countryside surrounded by art thanks to my family, who exposed me to books, comics and cinema from a very early age. There wasn’t that much to do on rainy days and I filled my hours picking from the bookshelves or playing videogames, which have become a stable part of my hobbies and shaped my interests growing up. I have been working as staff member at Lucca Comics & Games since 2006. After obtaining a Master’s Degree in English Translation, I moved to Scotland in 2016 where I kept pursuing writing (mainly self-published).

I am guilty of not knowing enough about the history of the United Kingdom, the country I’ve been calling home for the past 8 years, and I regularly make a point of trying to educate myself on what happened. I have to say that the more I dig into it, the more I realise that the “United” part of the United Kingdom is far more complex and perhaps not as fitting as it seems. But let’s not digress. 

I go through intense, niche phases where I focus on specific historical periods or events, and I am well aware that I have to milk them as much as I can before they are snuffed out like a candle and go dormant again for a few months. 

Therefore in the past weeks, I had been stacking up several Wikipedia tabs on the Troubles. I cannot say why this is the month for Irish history, once I find out I will let you know, but that’s when Say Nothing appeared on my radar. I also found out that Anthony Boyle was in it: I have been following him for the past year and has quickly found a spot in my personal chart of most promising upcoming actors (if you haven’t, check him out in Masters of the Air and Manhunt on Apple TV, he’s excellent)  

I never read reviews before watching any form of media, I always read them after to help me organise my thoughts. Therefore, I often jump in with very little assurance of what the quality is going to be. 

I’ll admit that, fresh off finishing it last night, I found it quite tricky to put together what kind of viewing experience it was for someone almost unaware of the history behind it. I knew some bits and bobs, like Bloody Sunday, but somehow I had never brought myself to piece all of these together. I had a vague knowledge of how deeply rooted the conflict was in history and religious traditions. In this article, I am not going to dive into that, and I will focus only on the series. 

I am not sure if what’s about to follow can be considered a professional review, therefore I’ll take one thing out of the way immediately before I start rambling (and potentially pepper this article with some unwanted spoilers): I recommend watching it. 

Although it’s not flawless, it’s well written, the acting is superb, and the merging of different narratives and combination of multiple styles work. 

If for whatever reason you’re looking to stay and know more, please make yourself comfortable. 

Say Nothing is based on the homonymous book by Patrick Radden Keefe, takes place from the 1970s and spans until the 1990s: with the mammoth task of introducing American audiences, and other pockets like myself, to such a complex conflict, the series lays down multiple storylines, merging them with flashback and time skips. The main narrating voices and characters are Dolours Price (played in her young version by Lola Petticrew, and by Maxine Peake in the older), Marion Price (Hazel Doupe/Helen Behan) and Brendan Hughes (Anthony Boyle/Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, one of the most incredible young/old casting I have ever seen). After being attacked during the civil rights march from Belfast to Derry, in what is known as the Burntollet Bridge Incident, the sisters joined the Provisional Irish Republican Army in 1971. 

The other main narrative thread is the disappearance of Jean McConville, a widowed mother of 10 who was abducted from her flat in 1972 as her children looked on. McConville was one of the 17 “Disappeared” who were secretly killed and buried by an elite IRA group called the “Unknowns”.

Starting in the 1970s, we see the IRA growing its paramilitary presence and becoming increasingly radicalised, although many of the main events like Bloody Sunday are briefly mentioned since we are seeing the IRA timeline through what Dolours, Marian and Brendan were directly involved with. These events include the London car bombing attacks in 1973, where over 200 people were injured. 

The recurring, central character around which all the narratives develop, is Gerry Adams. President of Sinn Féin between 1983 and 2018, Adams was already a well-known figure in Irish Republicanism since the late 1960s and was a prominent supporter of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association in 1967. Adams was active in rioting and he was captured in 1972, re-arrested in 1973, and after taking part in an IRA-organised escape attempt, was sentenced to an additional period of imprisonment. 

He’s a constant presence in each episode, even just mentioned in passing but always there, the grey eminence pulling the strings. Adams throughout the series is viewed through the main lens of Dolours and Brendan, which present him to us as the closest thing to a manipulative and merciless puppet master. 

Despite the complexity and several events overlapping, it’s overall easy to follow thanks to the flashbacks and the switches of point of view. 

What I enjoyed the most

The slow change in tone: the series starts off with the disappearance of Jean McColville, and then sets the scene for how the Price sisters become involved in the IRA. The first part is the kind of tone we see in the trailer: the girls dressing up as nuns and welding guns, bank robberies where no one gets killed, and the feeling of being part of an underground movement that is about to change the world. I perceived this as being the point of view of the sisters: barely 18, it’s almost a film to them, they get to have their say and show how much women can make a difference.

But as the series proceeds, it becomes more and more violent, and visceral, the desperation, pain and fear of the reality of war starts to seep into people’s minds and dig wrinkles on their faces. Even the cinematography colours become duller as the episodes progress. I found it a painful and accurate representation of the illusion shattering. Many IRA volunteers were barely kids, with no idea of the consequences of their actions, and it’s plain to see how they might have been used as cannon fodder by unscrupulous individuals to serve their own vision.

What lengths we are ready to go to as humans, and how we can morph and twist reality in our own heads to protect an ideal, or simply ourselves, in the unforgiving landscape of a war where there are no real winners. Say Nothing focuses a lot not only on the events but on the long-lasting effects and consequences on the protagonists’ minds. The depths of despair, manipulation, and delusion can also be seen in the portrayal of Gerry Adams, especially with the shift from paramilitary activity to pure politics during the 1980s. To this day he still denies any involvement with the IRA. 

I found myself uncomfortable watching some sequences, and I hadn’t experienced that for a long time: it’s crucial to sit with that uncomfortable feeling, not looking away, not glancing at your phone, and Say Nothing threads the line carefully with visceral, unapologetically long sequences. 

The acting – an incredibly solid cast. Especially the younger actors showcase an astounding maturity and mastership of the craft in never glamorizing or flattening their characters, making them feel like real people and not just cutouts. I hope to see them in more productions as they deserve all the spotlight.

What I thought was missing (but I also understand why it couldn’t be done) 

The portrayal of English people is limited, and they are mainly portrayed as villains or two-dimensional characters like Kitson. I fully appreciate the lack of time to explore this, and it’s not about them in this specific narrative, however, I think that seeing more civilians and soldiers having different reactions to the overall conflict, not just the London bombing, would have added an additional layer of complexity.

The arrival of Helen McConville towards the final part felt shortened compared to the space given to other characters. I feel that even half an episode showing us their struggle growing up, the devastating pain of having to sit around as the people responsible for your mother’s disappearance go on about their day like nothing happened, would have made Helen’s conclusion even more impactful.

Say Nothing draws the focus towards an incredibly complex and painful past, which ripples throughout entire fringes of society to this day, fresh wounds across generations that will require additional time to be fleshed out properly. It’s a series that has found its lens and sticks with it, creating a compelling and coherent narrative that, although understandably partial, still haunts you and forces you to reflect upon it. 

Say Nothing is available on Disney +