The Magdalene Sisters


2.5/4

Rated R for Violence/Cruelty, Nudity, Sexual Content and Language

"The Magdalene Sisters" is one of those historical dramas that might have worked better as a documentary than a fictional piece.  The subject matter is compelling and needs to be told, but it would be difficult to show the magnitude of the horrors of the Magdalene Asylums within the constraints of a narrative.  British character actor-turned filmmaker tries, with limited success, to show the brutality of what occurred in these "laundries."

Three young girls: Margaret (Anne-Marie Duff), who was raped by her cousin, Bernadette (Nora-Jane Noone), an orphan who was deemed too frisky with the boys, and Rose (Dorothy Duffy), who had a baby out of wedlock, are shipped off to the Magdalene Laundries, where in the words of the sadistic Sister Bridget (Geraldine McEwan), they can work themselves to death to pay for their sins.

The performances are all strong, and for the most part, composed by fresh faces.  In her debut performance,Nora-Jane Noone (who I first saw battling monsters and claustrophobia in "The Descent") is terrific as the jaded Bernadette.  Most of the girls have accepted their lot at the laundries; not Bernadette.  She wants out, and will stop at nothing to accomplish that.  Anne-Marie Duff is also very good as Margaret, who despite everything that happens to her, still retains her humanity.  Dorothy Duffy is the weak link, but that's not exactly a damning statement.  Then there's Geraldine McEwan, who is one of the more vicious creatures to come out of British cinema.  And yet, McEwan uses her eyes to show that Sister Bridget isn't pure evil; a Catholic fanatic and an abuser, yes, but through her facial expressions we can see that there's something human about her.

The problems with "The Magdalene Sisters" are two-fold.  One, the characters are sketchily developed.  We see the horrors, we know they are reprehensible and shocking, but because our empathy with the characters is so limited, the impact of the cruelty inflicted upon them lacks the brutal punch that it so justly deserves.  Consider Lee Tamahori's landmark film, "Once Were Warriors."  That film had a devastating impact because we understood the characters.  That doesn't happen here (at least not to the extent that we understood Jake and Beth Heke).  The second problem is the reason why it might have worked better as a documentary: following the lives of three women who lived through this eliminates the opportunity to explain why these asylums started and put it into any social context.

This is a solid film, but it could have been so much more.

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