“It was a shock to become a pop star. It's not what I wanted. I just wanted to scream,” says Sinéad O’Connor in “Nothing Compares”, a compelling film about her life and her career. Directed by Belfast-born Kathryn Ferguson, this unique music documentary strays away from vignette hagiography and instead delves into O'Connor's childhood trauma and how it reflects Ireland's fraught past.
Eschewing talking head interviews in favor of simple voiceover, Ferguson rounds out the visuals with a carefully edited collage of archival footage from the period, accentuating the most anticipated music videos and concert footage. What emerges is a more ephemeral portrait of the time and place from which O'Connor emerged and against which she rebelled.
Director: Kathryn Ferguson
Writers: Eleanor Emptage, Kathryn Ferguson, Michael Mallie
Star: Sinéad O'Connor
The film is executive produced by Charlotte Cook and Field of Vision, known for politically charged nonfiction films with cinematic goals, such as "American Factory" and "Strong Island." It's no surprise that a radical figure like Sinéad O'Connor could inspire Field of Vision's first music documentary, and the theme holds. "Nothing Compares" is a bold re-examination of O'Connor's all-too-brief window of wider influence, and a scathing critique of the sexist and conservative backlash that led to her withdrawal from public life. Like her signature theme, she has a clearly articulated point of view, which is ultimately what makes her worthwhile.
The current O'Connor doesn't appear in the film until a performance at its finale (she continued to make albums and tour despite her exile from the mainstream), but she is a constant voiceover presence through a current interview. . Her reflections do not always correspond to the images on screen, nor do they provide a deliberate timeline like a traditional narrative. O'Connor, who has never been classifiable, leaves much unsaid while remaining painfully forthcoming.
Always a songwriter, she shares her life's anxieties with poignant rawness and abstract lyricism. "I saw it as a game of chess," she says of her meteoric rise to international pop stardom. “Could I go from one side of the board to the other and still be true to myself?”
The film focuses on O'Connor's five most influential years, beginning with the 1987 release of his debut album "The Lion and the Cobra" and ending with his infamous 1992 appearance on "Saturday Night Live," during the which tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II. It's hard to believe it was a relatively short time, but O'Connor's shadow looms large as a polarizing household name during a particularly politically charged era. Some of the most fascinating images of her come from her appearances on talk shows, in which she is seen to many awkward male hosts who hesitate and complain about her shaved head. But that was the least of O'Connor's provocations.
Long before it became common for celebrities to express political views, O'Connor knew she had a microphone and used it in many ways. In solidarity with hip hop artists who boycotted the 1989 Grammys because the rap awards weren't televised, she performed with the Public Enemy logo painted on her shaved head. After she refused to go onstage if a New Jersey venue played the US national anthem in 1990, she prompted radio blackouts and threats from Frank Sinatra. And, of course, there was the "SNL" appearance, which the film plays in its entirety, in which O'Connor sings an a cappella version of Bob Marley's "WAR." The first reports of child abuse by the Catholic Church had recently appeared, and she tore up a photo of the Pope on which she had written "evil", announcing: "fight against the true enemy".
The reaction was swift and almost universal. Appearing at a Bob Dylan concert two weeks later, O'Connor was unable to perform her planned song due to jeers from the crowd. Introducing O'Connor, Kris Kristofferson calls her a person "whose name has become synonymous with courage and integrity." O'Connor's career never recovered.
Ferguson concludes the film with footage of Ireland repealing its 2018 abortion ban, Parkland activist Emma Gonzalez, the 2017 Women's March on Washington, and Pussy Riot. "Wherever there is that righteous anger of a woman now," says an Irish voice. "Who's making a difference, who's standing up and being brave, that's where Sinéad's little sparks are."