If you’ve seen the intensity of Peter Mullan as an actor (for example, in The Claim and especially My Name is Joe), then you may not be surprised that his directorial work with The Magdalene Sisters has resulted in an almost unremittingly dark and troubling film. Once the beautiful song that opens the film – performed at an Irish Wedding reception where Margaret (Anne-Marie Duff) finds herself thrown unwillingly into a world of sin – is over, the succeeding 115-minutes or so is mostly intense and painful.
Set in Ireland, beginning in 1964, the film focuses on three young women who are considered wayward sinners – one has had a baby without being married, another was raped, and the third had the temerity to flirt with boys. For these sins, all three get indeterminate sentences at the Magdalene Convent – the start of a harrowing experience reminiscent of a holocaust story.
Mullan, who also wrote the screenplay, has created a searing indictment of the Catholic Church in Ireland, one that portrays the nuns as cruel tormenters who are mainly interested in making money with the young women working essentially as slaves in the convent’s commercial laundry. By focusing primarily on Margaret, Bernadette and Rose (who is renamed Patricia by the arrogant Sister Bridget (Geraldine McEwan), as there is already a Rose at the convent, Mullan explores three very different ways of surviving – Rose lives on hope, Margaret looks for justice, and Bernadette survives by taking care of number one. Each of their stories is fascinating, and even the not-always-nice Bernadette becomes a sympathetic character, as her will to survive is even more admirable than her selfishness is repugnant.
Unremittingly dark until its closing scenes, The Magdalene Sisters offers nobody an easy way out. While the Catholic Church’s disapproval of the film is not surprising, even the film’s harshest critics – if they are honest – have to admit that these characters are surprisingly well-rounded. We don’t just see Sister Bridget as a cruel concentration camp commandant; we also see her harkening back to her youth, admitting to her love of the movies, and even showing brief moments of compassion here and there. The same is true of all the other significant characters, none of whom are presented as oversimplified caricatures. And when one of the protagonists takes action to avenge all the mistreatment, her plan partially backfires, exemplifying the hopelessness of the young women’s situation.
Based on the horrifying true story of the Magdalene Convents, the last of which closed only in 1996, this film powerfully condemns the treatment some 30,000 young women received when their families and their church deemed them ‘fallen.’ As you might expect, there are beatings, humiliation, sexual abuse and other inhuman displays of depravity here, all carried out in the name of God. In one of the movie’s most powerful moments, Margaret finds a door from the convent garden left mistakenly open, steps out into the roadway beside an idyllic pastoral scene, and then quickly scurries back onto the convent grounds, too frightened to contemplate escape.
Not for the squeamish, or for those who require fast-paced action or smiles along the way, The Magdalene Sisters, while perhaps slightly monotonous at times and a bit more heavy-handed than it needed to be, is a fine, serious film. The script is tight, the performances consistent, the direction solid, and the look of the film authentic. Prepare yourself for a difficult experience, then by all means take this one in. I look forward to more from Peter Mullan.
