Just watched interesting documentary "Nothing Compares" directed by Kathryn Ferguson, who could not possibly known that this 2022 film will just a year later serve as farewell to famous Irish singer. the documentary itself was very interesting although it kind of ends around mid 1990s when O'Connor gleefully destroyed her pop stardom and famously alienated half of the world with her highly publicised opinions. So there is nothing about her fall from grace and (perhaps fittingly) its a celebratory documentary, focused on how Sinéad became world superstar but almost nothing is said about her last years - that might be focus of another documentary. A large elephant in the room was the fact that Prince's estate strictly forbid use of his song - even he was alive, he was apparently not a fan of O'Connor - so its a bit obvious that documentary is built around the singer but can't play the song that made her a world superstar.
Her death came as a shock but not as a surprise - I was only surprised that she was actually so young and actually just a few years older than me. I vividly remember the times when she shoot to fame in the early 1990s, the beautiful new girl on the block and how everything about her was so unusual - she was not smiling, she looked focused and angry, her bald head making that beautiful face even more striking. Her music did not really appeal to me back than, but I found her intriguing - I might enjoy her music more today, in a retrospect. What was clear from the start was the O'Connor had strong opinions and was indeed courting the controversy, I would even say enjoying attention she got from the media - but constant anger brings you only so far and it was eventually self-destructive, as conservatives turned against her. Yes, in hindsight, whatever she said about Catholic church eventually came out as truth but in my opinion she fought with the windmills and it turned a lot of people against her. I can't think of any current pop star who would so knowingly sabotage their own success with bold statements like O'Connor.
One thing that documentary focuses on is her perpetual accusations - be it church, Magdalene asylum, her own mother or music industry. While in her TV interviews O'Connor comes on like a very charming and jovial, in print it sounds as she was constantly angry. Right now everybody talks about her as being bipolar or having mental issues, but this is how real artists are - they must have something that fires them up - I don't see O'Connor as more mad than the next person on the street. What bothers me just a bit is that constant obsession with the past and wounds that should have been left behind - we can't forever blame our parents for our own lives and at certain point one must accept his own responsibility. There is also a certain public hypocrisy where now everybody seems to praise her, but in fact she was almost blacklisted while she was alive. It confirms again that old motto that the best loved artists are dead ones.
No comments:
Post a Comment