The Magdalene Sisters

.Since its Venice Film Festival premiere, Mullan’s powerful drama has been causing controversy and provoking condemnation by the Catholic Church. Based on actual events, the film recounts the horrific history of Ireland’s Magdalene Asylums where thousands of girls and women were imprisoned and enslaved in the laundries – to atone for their sins. The story is told from the point of view of three young women in Dublin, 1964, each with a different ‘crime’ that results in their being sent to the Magdalene asylum against their will where they encounter the harsh regime run by Sister Bridget (McEwan). Mullan reaches beyond the immediate world of the Asylums to investigate a patriarchal society so influenced by the Church that it will devalue the lives of its daughters, condemning them to misery, humiliation and often death.