Say Nothing: 'sensational' dramatisation of Patrick Radden Keefe's bestselling book
The Disney+ series is a 'powerful reminder' of the Troubles
A history, a tragedy and at times a brutal thriller, Disney's nine-part series is a "sensational" amalgam, said Benji Wilson in The Daily Telegraph. Adapted from Patrick Radden Keefe's acclaimed non-fiction book about the Troubles, it weaves together at least seven narratives, with characters including Gerry Adams, the IRA bombers Dolours and Marian Price, and Jean McConville, the widowed mother of ten who was bundled into a van in 1972 and never seen alive again.
It begins as "thrilling" cops-and-robbers stuff: the IRA members of the 1970s are presented as folk heroes taking on the "stuffed-shirt" Brits, and there is a needling sense that the conflict is being romanticised; but stick with it, because the series develops into something more "elegiac and profound".
This "ultimately sober-minded" series is a powerful reminder of a tragic era, said Ed Power in The Irish Times. It accepts the romantic appeal of the IRA's cause to people like Dolours Price – played with "devilish energy" as a young woman by Lola Petticrew and as a "guilt-ridden shell" by Maxine Peake – but it does not neglect the IRA's victims.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
I disagree, said Lucy Mangan in The Guardian: the series is indeed highly watchable, but it's too sympathetic to its main characters. The Price sisters, for instance, were involved in a bomb attack on the Old Bailey in 1973 in which around 200 people were injured, yet there is little reckoning with that: "'Say Nothing' comes to feel as though it has left too much unsaid."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
The $100mn scandal undermining Volodymyr ZelenskyyIn the Spotlight As Russia continues to vent its military aggression on Ukraine, ‘corruption scandals are weakening the domestic front’
-
Quiz of The Week: 15 – 21 NovemberQuiz Have you been paying attention to The Week’s news?
-
Can the UK do more on climate change?Today's Big Question Labour has shown leadership in the face of fraying international consensus, but must show the public their green mission is ‘a net benefit, not a net cost’
-
Nick Clegg picks his favourite booksThe Week Recommends The former deputy prime minister shares works by J.M. Coetzee, Marcel Theroux and Conrad Russell
-
Park Avenue: New York family drama with a ‘staggeringly good’ castThe Week Recommends Fiona Shaw and Katherine Waterston have a ‘combative chemistry’ as a mother and daughter at a crossroads
-
Jay Kelly: ‘deeply mischievous’ Hollywood satire starring George ClooneyThe Week Recommends Noah Baumbach’s smartly scripted Hollywood satire is packed with industry in-jokes
-
Motherland: a ‘brilliantly executed’ feminist history of modern RussiaThe Week Recommends Moscow-born journalist Julia Ioffe examines the women of her country over the past century
-
Music reviews: Rosalía and Mavis Staplesfeature “Lux” and “Sad and Beautiful World”
-
6 homes for entertainingFeature Featuring a heated greenhouse in Pennsylvania and a glamorous oasis in California
-
Film reviews: ‘Jay Kelly’ and ‘Sentimental Value’Feature A movie star looks back on his flawed life and another difficult dad seeks to make amends
-
6 homes on the Gulf CoastFeature Featuring an elegant townhouse in New Orleans’ French Quarter and contemporary coastal retreat in Texas