The documentary Nothing Compares tells the story of Irish singer-songwriter Shenyard O'Connor's banishment from the music world after reaching the height of fame.
The 97-minute film began showing on October 7, 2022, after it received its world premiere at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. It won 6 awards, and was nominated for 18 other awards, so far.
And the American network "ShowTime" described it on its page as "a discovery of O'Connor's rise and fall, and her sweeping influence as one of the brightest stars of music, since the age of 20."
O'Connor swept the world of singing in the 1980s and 1990s with her unique voice, fiery nature, and shaved head, especially after the release of her famous song "Nothing Compares 2 U", which was chosen as the best single in the world, stunned critics, and exploded the global music scene, and sold more It sold 7 million copies, and was watched by about 350 million viewers on YouTube.
"This song was in our blood," said American critic and author Neil Mino.
However, the first surprise of this film was that it did not include the song that gave it its title because the author's heirs refused to grant permission to do so.
Irish O'Connor.. a brilliant personality
"She's a brilliant figure who refuses to obey." With this phrase, veteran critic Peter Bradshaw described the 80's star O'Connor, commenting on her bold conversion to Islam, considering it "strong evidence of a brilliant person who refuses to obey."
He added that we are in the process of making a documentary film that "celebrates a singing legend, and an exceptional talent, who chose to be ahead of her time, in her shocking style, as a dissident who refuses to be silent, and bears the price of voicing her political views, and defending issues that have become commonplace after confronting them."
O'Connor had it all, and achieved overwhelming success, "but she threw it all away, and became an outcast, for speaking out about things no one else dared," according to Bradshaw, who does not hide his admiration for her persistence, despite everything, in making music "as evidence of her courage and toughness."
However, this did not prevent O'Connor, 56, from becoming a global protest figure, "by storming controversial issues that moved her from stardom to untouchability," according to the "Show Time" network.
She sparked outrage in the United States, after refusing to play the national anthem, before her concert in New Jersey in 1990, which made singer Frank Sinatra "bully her, mock her shaved head, and threaten to kick her."
O'Connor sparked controversy after she was baptized as a priest in an Irish church in 1999, then converted to Islam in 2018, then returned to the American stage, full of vitality and confidence in her strong voice in 2020;
He published her memoirs, which became a bestseller last year, ending with the shocking suicide of her 17-year-old son, Shane, earlier this year.
Although O'Connor's career was fraught with excitement, critic Steve Bond noted that the documentary focused on only part of it, a 6-year period from 1987 to 1993 "and neglected the last half of her experience, no less important and curious."
A meteoric rise and tragic fall
15 years ago, in October 1992, a truck drove through Times Square in central New York, smashing O'Connor's CDs.
While spectators cheered, and journalists filmed the angry public outcry over her tearing up the Pope's picture.
Today, "the building overlooking that square bears a huge image of O'Connor's shaved head, gazing wide-eyed across a city that is part of a country that has vilified, ridiculed, and banned it," says columnist Sylvia Patterson.
She adds that 30 years after that incident, and also in October, Irish director Kathryn Ferguson released a documentary film that “has been an idea forming in her mind since the early 1990s, before turning into a beautifully constructed impressionistic story, after an interview that brought her together with O'Connor in Dublin late 2019, lasting two days.
Ferguson chronicles "through a contemporary feminist lens" the segment about O'Connor's rise and exile from the music world, from 1987 to 1993, bolstered by memorable footage of a series of her protests and forays into heated issues, but with less detail about her early years and "ignorance of persistent mental turmoil". which she suffered, and the suicide of her son earlier this year.
After occupying the covers of British music magazines, she became an outcast.
She faced death threats, was boycotted by the "Grammy" and other music awards, and was met with boos and boos at the celebration of the 30th anniversary of singer Bob Dylan, and her songs were suspended after they were broadcast in the United States "once or twice a day."
Delightful ending
We are in front of "a smart and emotional documentary that reviews part of the life of a disobedient artist, who dared to step out of line, and paid a heavy price with her professional and personal life," says critic Leah Greenblatt.
This is what critic Steve Bond went on to say, "It is a powerful film, which explores the roots of a bright, but turbulent Irish singer at the same time."
But he overcame many of the highs and lows that O'Connor experienced during the past two decades, to jump us towards "a somewhat joyful ending, which presents her with a convincing argument, as a wonderful artist, self-destructive but indomitable, and paints for her the image of a person who is now regaining her mind, against the background of what she suffered in her childhood." The brutality of her family...to explain to us why and how things ended up as they are today."