The Magdalene Sisters

2003 "In a place that defied belief their only hope was each other."
7.7| 1h59m| R| en| More Info
Released: 29 August 2003 Released
Producted By: Miramax
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

Four women are given into the custody of the Magdalene sisterhood asylum to correct their sinful behavior: Crispina and Rose have given birth to a premarital child, Margaret got raped by her cousin and the orphan Bernadette had been repeatedly caught flirting with the boys. All have to work in a laundry under the strict supervision of the nuns, who break their wills through sadistic punishment.

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Reviews

ThiefHott Too much of everything
Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.
Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
mshavzin I can't help believing that every time they make a story based on these four recollections of these four girls in Ireland it gets even more exaggerated. I am sure that it was rough and everything, but admittedly the vast number of girls that went into the Magdalene system made it out alive, and every single one of those young women were sent there by their families, so they probably weren't exactly great daughters at the very least. I just think the whole exaggeration of their suffering is getting old.
Michael Radny Going into this film I was expecting a pretty bland drama that I could plop along to. To my surprise, The Magdalene Sisters proves to be much better than your standard redemption drama. Whether it is the compelling characters or the story, The Magdalene Sisters managed to have me gripped to the chair and truly engage in the story (something I have not done in many years).Everyone in this film has a distinct character; love them or hate them. The true hell of these asylums is portrayed so well that by the end of the film you just pray that people will never do anyone such injustice again. One of the great films of the 21st century.
freemantle_uk The Magdalene Asylums and the treatment an estimated 30,000 'fallen' women is one of the great shames on the Irish nation and the Catholic Church, which the Irish government only apologised for in 2013. The British-Irish co-production of The Magdalene Sisters set out to tell the true story of a group of young women who suffered at the hands of the Church and their families.Starting in 1964, The Magdalene Sisters focuses on three women, Margaret (Anne-Marie Duff) who is raped by her cousin during a wedding, Rose (Dorothy Duffy) who had a child out of wedlock and was forced to give him up for adoption and Bernadette (Nora Jane No one), a teenage orphan who has the audacity to flirt with boys and is sent to the asylum, even though she is a virgin. At the asylum, each the woman all have to atone for their 'sins', through hard labour in the laundries, participating in prayer and can only be freed on the grace of the Mother Superior Sister Bridget (Geraldine McEwan).The Magdalene Sisters has a rape scene within the first five minutes sets the tone that this is going to be a bleak, hard-hitting drama about a truly appalling institution. Writer-director Peter Mullan felt this was a story that he needed to tell. Mullan does showcase the physical and mental abuse that these women went through, who were humiliated, dehumanised and used as slave labour. The nuns of this institution are made out to be sadists who use Catholic beliefs as a justification and a method of control on the women, while Mullan shows the hypocrisy of the church in its various forms.The Magdalene Sisters is mostly set in a small, claustrophobic environment and Mullan uses this microcosm to explore some wider psychological and sociological. The character of Katy (Britta Smith), a woman who had been in the asylum for 40 years, is so institutionalised, that she acts as an extra enforcer for the nuns, under the hope she can complete a pendant. All of the other women are completely rejected by their families and have to join the order because they have nowhere else to turn.When Mullan does take us outside of the asylum he portrays the conservative nature of Irish society at the time. The public look down the women when they are allowed out, seen as the lowest of the low, the state offering some complicity, as police occasionally help the nuns. On the other side of the coin, young men see the women of the asylum as easy because of their reputation for being 'whores' and 'sluts'.Each of the actors give their all for the film and they had given the heavy material. The film is blessed with a talented cast and for many of the actresses, The Magdalene Sisters is their biggest credit. The tragedy is played to the fullest, as these women suffer inside and outside the asylum, yet Rose and Margaret keep their kind aspects of their characters and Bernadette reminds a fiery woman who does not crack to the punishment she has received. In comparison the naive and kind-hearted Crispina (Eileen Walsh), a young woman with properly learning disabilities, who is abused in various forms and is the character who suffers the most.Mullan made an incredibly important film, looking at tragic historic story where many women suffered. This is a film that is furious towards the Catholic Church and Mullan does portray many hard scenes in physical and emotional abuse, filled with violence and nudity. It is a tough yet rewarding watch. But if you think the treatment the women suffered in this dreadful Mary-Jo McDonagh, a former Magdalene inmate said that the reality was even worst.Please visit www.entertainmentfuse.com
Joe T As already well noted, this is a very well crafted film that captures and portrays some of the lowest possibilities of human endeavour. The movie has it's flaws, but drawing empathy from the viewer is not one of them and this it does so well that I was emotionally exhausted by the end of it.The religious dimension of the film is an interesting one. Clearly people wanting opportunity for anti-Catholic or anti-religious diatribe would find plenty of fuel here, but I think the more reasonable viewer (religious or not) would see the issues raised for what they are - a perversion and distortion of Christian faith perpetuated and maintained by flawed institutional systems. In this vein, it's not necessarily an anti-religious film and not even anti-establishment as such, but it does show a terrible side of those things and, moreover, illustrate how human beings can take any ideology, belief system etc. and turn it to meet their own personal sadistic and evil ends.A sad and horrible film and one that reminds us all of what not do to, how not to treat people and how we should be ever vigilant as a society against evil and cruelty no matter the guise it takes.