The Magdalene Sisters

Rating:
Summary: Punishment by Gender
Review: I saw this movie on the True Stories Channel and couldn't take my eyes off of what had happened to the women in these conditions in an asylum that was suppose to "change" them for the better. I did hear about the Magdalene asylums in Ireland on Sixty Minutes. They used the biblical figure Maria Magdalene as a prototype to "correct" women for their "sins".

The women in these asylums were raped, flirtatious, or sexually promiscuous. They even had children out of wedlock which was considered "sinful". The church in trying to regulate women's sexuality, abused them in the end scarring them physically and mentally. Crispina was a tragedy of the system. Her aunt sent her away after she had given birth to her son and never even had the chance to bond with him. It was her sister and son that would come by to see her in secret. She was doomed in the end.

Some of these women remained in this deplorable system that controlled them were never able to get out of the asylum. Their resting place was to be in "heaven". Death is more noble than life. This movie and the events that occured aren't isolated. Every event in history has doomed persons to commit unlawful and brutal acts against each other in the name of religion and democracy.

Rating:
Summary: Unrelenting Genius
Review: This is a necessary and valuable work of art. Not because of any great characters, or acting, or story line or most of the attributes we commonly associate with a great movie; but, like some of Kubrick's greatest work, this film shows in sharp focus the extremities of the human experience in a particular context, in this case the intolerance of a primitive society and it's devastating effects on human lives.

The place is Ireland, the time the early 1960's. Like most primitive societies, the Ireland of this time was a deeply patriarchal society, something we are introduced to very quickly; Margaret, a victim of in-bred viciousness, is the one who takes the rap while her raping cousin is left to return drinking with his buddies. Bernadette is seen flirting with boys at the schoolyard gates, who probably return the next day, oblivious to the fact she is gone. And with Patricia, who has a child out of wedlock, there is no male figure at all, he is completely gone, his presence hinted at only by the infant she is shamed into giving up against every one of her instincts. In all cases, the same basic device is employed; the female is seen as the danger and thus eliminated, while the males continue their lives as before, registering a slight blip if any thing at all. A very clear picture of a society in the grip of an extreme 'jezebel' complex emerges, one where female sexuality is seen as the cause of trouble and promptly extinguished.

So the girls end up in a Magdalene Asylum pretty quickly and what they experience is as effective and brutal a system of elimination as the most stringent communist society, or the most extreme fundamentalism. It is in fact a highly effective combination; the girls are indoctrinated and brainwashed as well as possible, and at the same time are turned into a clockwork laundering factory. The intolerance of the society for female sexuality is turned into an effective money making machine by the very church that fosters that intolerance.

The pace of the movie, after the three girls end up entering the Magdalene Asylum, is unrelentingly grim, and succeeding events serve to build up a portrait of the human spirit slowly being crushed. This is thrown into sharp relief towards the end, when, after Margaret has been retrieved by her brother, both Bernadette and Patricia attempt a daring escape; if it seems a bit implausible, it's almost necessary, otherwise what the viewer has experienced is too dark, too hopeless. The biographies we read of the girls at the very end serve to show how their experiences mark their entire lives. In one case, perhaps the most tragic of all, that of Crispina, it directly leads to her life ending in an insane asylum. How, I will leave that for your viewing.

Watch this movie and learn. It's not really about great acting or directing, and you will not "enjoy" it, but you will gain a vivid insight into the dark, primitive, totalitarian oppression that one of Europe's modern societies has thankfully quickly (yet disturbingly recently) come out from underneath.

By the way, if this seems critical of Ireland, I was born into 1960s Ireland. I know. I also want to be clear that this is not critical of everything Irish, but one aspect, the intolerance of female sexuality in Ireland of that time. Nor is it intended to be critical of the Catholic church in general; there are many societies where catholicism is the main religion, and female sexuality is overtly celebrated and displayed (Brazil, Cuba come to mind, though I should add that I've never actually been there). And let me also add that demonization of the female figure, the 'jezebel complex', is a common theme in many societies; but, it was applied with a particularly totalitarian ruthlessness in 1950s and 60s Ireland, in a way that I have always been slightly baffled by. Kudos to Peter Mullan for a stunningly vivid portrait of it.

Also, Peter Mullan is a complete genius, I urge anyone to check out anything he's ever been remotely involved in; "My Name is Joe", "Raining Stones"... It's often grim and tragic, but I'm hard pressed to think of a better or more sympathetic conveyor of the human experience.

Rating:
Summary: The church needs to prioritize already
Review: I've watched this movie twice and boy did it leave its impressions.

I went to Catholic school for 13 years (K-12) and am amused to this day how much they worry more about the "evils" of abortion, birth control and sex education than they do about [...] priests, the hierarchy's part in covering up these crimes by transferring the priests and paying off the victims (or simply shooing them away), and this sad, pathetic chapter in their history. Now they're running radio commercials asking people to find it in their hearts to "forgive." Perhaps they'd do better to start apologizing to the many women whose lives were ruined by these horrible places.

The church did, indeed, have too much power for too long and, like all tyrants, misused it. They humiliated and belittled these young women for perceived sins (how it's a sin that your own cousin rapes you or that boys gather around you because you're pretty is beyond me).

The unneccessary tragedy that were these Irish laundries continues to unfold to this day with the graves of these young women being uncovered everyday and more women coming forth to tell their tales of how much they suffered.

I give all the credit in the world to the filmmaker and the distribution company for enduring the threats of the current church heirarchy and making this film so that the plight of these women could finally be told.

Finally, you'd think the folks in charge would have been enlightened enough to shut these slave mills down years back, right?

The last laundry was closed way back in 1996.

Rating:
Summary: "In the name of the Father, etc." - A Harrowing Tale
Review: THE MAGDALENE SISTERS packs more information, investigation, and condemnation of the power of the Irish Catholic Church in this two-hour story based on a documentary that appears so cruel that it borders on incredulous. Yet director Peter Mullen has developed this engrossing tale directly from facts as made known in the Irish press: for years the Catholic Church operated the Magdalene Laundry as an asylum for young women who varied in their 'sins' from mere flirting with boys to being raped to giving birth out of wedlock. Though the church wants to be viewed as giving these 'unwanted girls' a haven, the asylums were prison like in nature, in abuse of women, and in forced labor camp life style.

The story focuses on the lives of four young girls who are sent to the Magdalene Laundry in 1964: Rose (Dorothy Duffy), Bernadette (Nora-Jane Noone), and Margaret (Anna-Marie Duff) and the already incarcerated Crispina (Eileen Walsh). Under the brutal guardianship of Sister Bridget (an extraordinary performance by Geraldine McEwan) the girls live through the slowly unveiled life patterns that have existed for years in this dark, dank, horrid place. They bond with the other 'inmates' (the entire spectrum of age), witness the cruelty of the nuns and the degrading behavior of the priests, and focus on the idea of escape.

How all of this plays out is the kaleidoscopic intricacy of the film and all of the varied subplots and particular performances are superbly handled. The startling fact is that we are watching a story based on fact: this asylum was not closed until 1996! Kudos to Peter Mullen for making public some of the atrocities under the guise of religion that still abound around the world. This film is not only instructional, it is a fine piece of cinematography, acting and directing. No wonder it has won so many awards. Grady Harp, November 2004