neumu [ cinematronic ]




	The Magdalene Sisters
	Peter Mullan Geraldine McEwan, Anne-Marie Duff, Nora-Jane Noone, Dorothy Duffy, Eileen Walsh 2002		A fierce, unadulterated, hard-to-shake drama, "The Magdalene Sisters" reveals a shameful chapter in 20th-century Irish history when "fallen" women were abandoned by their families and left to the un-tender mercies of the Catholic Church. During the early 1960s, four ordinary young women (Anne-Marie Duff, Nora-Jane Noone, Dorothy Duffy, Eileen Walsh) are accused of immorality in separate circumstances. Their relatives and church elders deem that penance is necessary for their perceived sins, so they are each sent to live in a harsh convent environment, where they slave away in the so-called Magdalene Laundries, try to avoid the punishments of the cruel Sister Bridget (Geraldine McEwan), and dream of escaping their fate. "The Magdalene Sisters" depicts the crushing hopelessness of such incarceration, where there's no clear and finite sentence to be served. Instead, the girls are victimized by the whims of "loved ones" and the will of the nuns. The cast is excellent, especially the actresses playing the luckless quartet of unwilling laundresses. It's a grim picture of an inhumane situation, but it's directed with artistry by actor Peter Mullan of "Braveheart" and "Trainspotting."