Review of The Magdalene Sisters (2002) by Fernando C — 05 Dec 2010

The Magdalene Sisters is a 2002 award winning Irish film written and directed by Peter Mullan which shows the cruelness of the Magdalene Asylums, otherwise known as the Magdalene Laundries, through the story of three teenage girls (Margaret, Bernadette and Rose) who were sent to these places because they according to their families and society they had âfallenâ?. So apparently if any woman was to flirt, get raped or have a bastard child, like the three main characters did, they were classified as fallen which means that basically they are going down the side of the demon or Satan. Anyway, so while the rest of the women around the world are getting freedom or are fighting for their rights these women are forced to be stripped of their dignity and freedom and have to do all sorts of work to apparently atone their âsinsâ?, even though they might have gotten raped, which yeah apparently is their fault they got raped.

The film has great mise-en scene but the lighting is not the best but in a way it kind of helps the film because it has a dark tone to it. This film in a way can be called a heritage film because it is set in 1960â(TM)s Ireland and in another it can also fall into the exploitation genre mainly into its women-in-prison sub-genre because, letâ(TM)s face it, this place is prison.

This film is a great contribution to the cinema of Ireland because, from what I have read so far, they do not have a big filmography like Britain or the United States do, and this film can be a great inspiration for any up-and-coming Irish filmmaker.