Review of The Magdalene Sisters (2002) by Stuart K — 10 Mar 2013

Directed by Peter Mullan, his second film as director after the hugely underrated black comedy Orphans (1998), this one focuses on one of the darkest chapters in Ireland's history, you could say it was their holocaust.

Set in a time when the church could dictate governments, and do what they wanted. It's not an easy film to watch, but there is a sense of hope within the film, and that's all our characters can pray on.

In Ireland in 1964, four teenage girls, Margaret (Anne-Marie Duff), Bernadette (Nora Jane Noone), Patricia (Dorothy Duffy) and Harriet (Eileen Walsh), all sent from their respective homes to one of the many Magdalene Asylums in Ireland, because of their various flirtations, misdemeanors and "sins".

The Magdalene Asylum they are at is run by mother superior Sister Bridget (Geraldine McEwan), and she wants to ensure the girls return to God's grace through prayer, hard work and other forms of penance.

The girls are humiliated by the nuns, but the girls plan to escape from the asylum, but they'll be punished further if caught. Mullan called this his prison film, and was spurred on to do it when learning the victims in these asylums had not received any compensation or an apology, it's an uncomfortable film but it has some good performances throughout, and Mullan has a good visual eye, and brought this horrible sin to people's attention.