Nothing Compares: Sinead O’Connor film documents life leading up to infamous Saturday Night Live appearance

One of the first to use their celebrity platform for activism, the rise and implosion of Irish singer Sinead O’Connor is captured with new film, Nothing Compares.

The enigmatic life of Irish songstress Sinead O’Connor is the focus of a new documentary by Kathryn Ferguson, due for cinema release later this week entitled Nothing Compares.

Nothing Compares isn’t a straight biopic or musical documentary though; instead is a moving collage featuring clips and footage of O’Connor performing and being interviewed early on in her career.

The documentary also demonstrates how O’Connor used her newfound celebrity after the worldwide hit, Nothing Compares 2 U, as a platform for issues she believed in; womens rights, abortion rights, racism and the catholic church.

The latter earned her widespread condemnation when she performed on Saturday Night Live in an era where singers were mostly asked to “shut up and play the song.”

What time period will Nothing Compares cover?

In an interview with Salon, Nothing Compares director Kathryn Ferguson detailed that a lot of the documentary would be based on the early career of Sinead O’Connor, leading up to her controversial appearance on Saturday Night Live in 1992.

“As an Irish woman, Sinead’s story wasn’t being discussed — how she used her voice and her power during this very specific time period, 1987-1993.”

“I felt it needed to be looked at again and reevaluated, as many incredible female stories were. It took four years to bring it to life. We had no funding or backers and we had to convince them that this was a film that needed to happen.”

What did Sinead O’Connor do to cause controversy on Saturday Night Live?

O’Connor caused controversy when during an appearance on Saturday Night Live she performed a Bob Marley cover, “War”, while holding a picture of then Pope John Paul II.

While uttering the line at the end of the song, “fight the real enemy”, O’Connor proceeded to tear up the picture of the Pope on national television.

It elicited calls of banning O’Connor and widespread condemnation, but Ferguson believes that the singer was lightyears ahead of how current performers get a message across.

“Today we are used to our pop stars using their platforms, but at that point, the sex scandal in the Catholic church was not a conversation people wanted or were ready to have. The way she went about it was really shockingly brilliant, maybe in some ways.”

“It didn’t do the commercial aspect of her career any good, but it made a hell of an impact and got a lot of conversations going on a subject that wasn’t out for public consumption. I think she just used her platform fantastically. She wouldn’t be told what to say or not say by anyone.”

“As she says in the film, it was one of the proudest things she has ever done. Hats off to her for being brave enough to actually call it out.”

When will Nothing Compares be released?

Nothing Compares will be released theatrically across the UK and Ireland from October 7.

For international readers, Nothing Compares 2 U is currently streaming in the United States on Showtime, having screened on October 30.