The Magdalene Sisters Reviews

Disturbing true story of catholic hypocracy and bigotry

For me the most disturbing message from this film was that the last of these intitutions was closed as recently as 1996.

The film is a damning account of how women were (are?) regarded within the Catholic faith in Ireland, by Priests and Nun's whose daily prayers were of love and forgiveness, but whose hearts were cold and cruel and activities greedy and evil.

Your blood will run cold at the influence they had on the families of too many innocent women and girls.

The fact that this has occurred in recent times suggests that there must still be many emotionally crippled Irish women who have been permenantly scarred by this barbaric regime. The consequences for these women and those around them isn't too difficult to imagine.

This a poweful and must-see film, despite it's depressing story.

WOW

i ordered this purely for my mum (shed been nagging about it for some time) but when we watched it i was the one who was hooked. its moving ,funny, shocking, sad, uplifting, unbearable- basically everything a great film should be - truley one of the best films ive ever seen

you must rent this now!!!!!!

Harrowing true story

This is a sometimes harrowing true story of the brutal Irish Magdalene laundries run by nuns through the middle years of the twentieth century. The film is beautifully acted by a cast of mainly unknown young women and an older cast including an amazing Geraldine McEwen. The tale is sensitively told and brings to life how closed the Catholic Church of 1950s Ireland was.

Unmissable!

This is a very real, enthralling drama about the lives of four girls committed to the Magdalene Laundries to atone for what the Catholic church regards as sins.

The characters are varied and strong, the drama is unflinching, the story and its direction allow us to easily get involved. I found myself utterly gripped, and one wonders how a film like this can be overlooked at the Oscars when other dramas like 'The Hours' quite simply fall way short of this unmissable film.

Funny and sweet, yet also tough and disturbing, this is clearly 5* material and one of the best films I have seen in years.

Harrowing tale

A very watchable if harrowing tale about unfortunate girls caught in the catholic welfare system in Ireland in the 1960's. It seems more like a Victorian tale like Oliver Twist. Poor girls sent to the Magdalene Sisters a group of sadistic nun’s intent on reforming wayward girls; that may have been raped or had a child out of marriage. The story focuses particularly on four girls and how they struggle to survive amongst the abuse they receive in nun run laundry. It is a well told story acted convincingly; but at times it is hard to watch.

[Highly rated reviewer]

The Magdalene Sisters

The Magdalene asylums were where 'sinful' young women were sent to have their behaviour corrected. There were many of these places in Ireland, the last only closing in 1996. The Magdalene Sisters shows them as places where the girls were made to work (in the laundry) and live in appalling conditions and under the constant threat of severe punishment from the nuns who ran the asylum for even the smallest contravention of the rules.

The Magdalene Sisters uses the stories of four girls to tell the story of the asylums. Margret (Duff) is sent after being raped by her cousin, Bernadette (Noone) is sent after being seen flirting with some boys across the wall of the orphanage she lives in. The other two main girls, Crispina (Walsh) and Patricia/Rose (Duffy) both end up in the asylum after having children out of wedlock.

The other main role in the film is taken by Geraldine McEwan as Sister Bridget, the sister in charge at the asylum.

These five performers are the greatest assets of the film. Mullan took a big risk in casting four complete unknowns in the lead roles but it is a gamble that pays off in spades, not only because the four girls are all outstanding in their roles, but because their unknown status allows us to buy into the reality of the situation, rather than look at it as a performance. Each of the four girls have their stand out moments but there are two, both focused on Walsh, that have really stuck in my mind. The first is during a mass nude scene where two of the nuns are making a 'competition' of their cruel observations of the girls bodies and Walsh's breakdown when she is told she has 'won' is something that will stay in the audiences mind for a long time. Equally memorable and, in its own way, horrific is her seemingly endless screaming of the words 'you're not a man of god' to a priest who has been taking advantage of her.

Geraldine McEwan is also outstanding as Sister Bridget, creating a villain who is not simply a monster but believably evil. This comes through best not in the moments she is beating or punishing girls (which she does frequently) but in her comforting bedside manner with Walsh after the 'not a man of god' moment and other quieter moments.

Peter Mullan, despite being on only his second film as director, seems to have a great eye as there are some very beautiful shots in the film. The stand out moment for me was a seemingly Clockers influenced shot of Bernadette's eye, covered in blood from her latest punishment, with Sister Bridget reflected in it. As Mullan observes in his commentary 'it's not subtle' but damn it is effective.

When Good People Go Wrong

Bleak, thoughtful and engrossing. The whole movie I was asking, "How can supposedly good people do this to others?", and how could it survive so long as an institution.

A very good movie with solid performances and not a lot of hope. Worthwhile viewing.

'Care in the Community'

Agree with everything reviewer 'Stella from Wokingham' says about this film and would just like to add that poor Crispina's fate is the real reason for the closure of assylums.

Very good

Whilst this film is very good in it's own right, I'd watched 'Song For A Raggy Boy' first and that had the edge on it. I do recommend both films whole-heartedly, though.

Shocking!

An excellent, moving, shocking comment on the terrible plight of many young women in a not-so-long-ago Ireland. Three young women shut away in a Home for 'fallen women'. One because she was flirty, one because she had a baby without a husband, one because she was raped by her cousin at a family wedding. They, and the others portrayed, were degraded more by the 'care' they received than by their experiences outside. Abuse on every level. And a fourth girl, whose child was at least kept within her family. But she was being sexually abused by the local priest. I was so glad when the girl who saw it put itching powder in the priest's laundrey items, causing him to strip off naked in front of a whole congregation. Except that it resulted in the abused girl being incarcerated in a mental hospital. Big cover-up. Fiction. No. Based on the women's true stories. Three managed to get out in a few years and coped - on the whole. The fourth died in the mental hospital aged 24. I wept with them but could not turn away.