The Magdalene Sisters Review
by Robin Clifford (robin AT reelingreviews DOT com)August 13th, 2003
"The Magdalene Sisters"
Until the last one was closed in 1996 the Magdalene Convents were scattered throughout Catholic Ireland and their sole purpose was to house the outcast girls of Papist society, committing them to a life of grueling work, deprivation, humiliation and unhappiness. Venice Golden Lion winner Peter Mullan tells the story of one such convent through the eyes of three of its inmates in the powerful "The Magdalene Sisters."
It's 1960's Ireland and three teenaged girls present us with their brief "lapses" of faith in God. Margaret (Anne-Marie Duff) is attending a family wedding where a drunken cousin gets her alone and rapes her. Word of the crime gets to her father and the local priest, but the rapist isn't punished. Instead, Margaret is shipped off in shame to the care of the Magdalene sisters. Rose (Dorothy Duffy) is pregnant out of wedlock and, when the baby is born, it is taken away and the young girl is forcibly shipped to the convent. For Bernadette (Nora-Jane Noone), the only crime she committed was to flirt, from a distance, with teenaged boys at school. The three arrive together at the place that could well be their "home" for the rest of their miserable lives.
"The Magdalene Sister" is an earnest indictment against a Church system that indentured thousands of women and subjected them to long, hard days of scrubbing laundry for the local businesses, earning money for the sisters but getting none of it in return for their back breaking labors. The day-to-day toil the girls must withstand - including humiliating strip downs, physical abuse and psychological torture - is depicted with sometime nauseating believability. In this time when the Catholic Church is under scrutiny at all levels "The Magdalene Sisters" feels timely, though it is a subject the was close to Mullan's heart for years before coming to the screen.
Writer/director Peter Mullan crafts a film that plays its period timeframe well, and presents the convent itself as an almost Medieval prison where the daughters of the working cast are sent for real or imagined crimes against the Lord. He is fortunate to have a talented cast of both newcomers and veterans that lend realness to the proceeds. Geraldine McEwan, as the convent's Mother Superior, is chilling with her kindly outward demeanor that masks the cold heart of a cruel martinet who cares more about the money her wards earn than she ever would for any of the girls and women under her dubious care. This is the best supporting actress performance for 2003 - I'll say that now.
The trio of young women at the film's focus give strong performances as innocents torn from their families because of arcane thinking that seem dated for the 19th Century, never mind for the later half of the 20th. Noone, in particular, has good presence and comes across with just the right sassy note as she professes her innocence to Sister Bridget. "I'm a good girl, sister," she insists to her jailer.
Techs are well done as the 'makers capture the period and locale of the rural isolation of the convent in 60's Ireland. The stark environment and the austere costuming - sackcloth and ashes come to mind - provide a chilling embodiment of these girls' lives.
"The Magdalene Sisters" may be criticized for beating the Church when it's down but the heartfelt honesty of the work, the fine performances and deft crafting make this a must for the socially conscious. I give it an A-.
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