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Take
one fanatical Mother Superior, three new ‘inmates’ at a Magdalene
Laundry, and one oppressive regime and you have all the makings
for a hard hitting and compelling debut feature, by director Peter
Mullen.
But
be warned, you may never sing along to Sister Act with the same
light-hearted abandon again!
The
film is set in the 1960s, a time of free love and sexual independence,
but not that is if you were a devout Irish Catholic.
Mortal
sin
Whilst
their British counterparts revelled in their new found liberation,
unmarried Irish mothers and those considered by a strict Catholic
society to have a low moral virtue, were in effect imprisoned by
their families at a Magdalene Laundry and made to work to atone
their sins’.
And
it is to one such laundry that Margaret (Annne-Marie Duff), Rose
(Dorothy Duffy) and Bernadette (Nora-Jane Jones), are sent. A victim
of rape, an unmarried mother and a beautiful, headstrong girl, their
punishment for such mortal sin, is to work, unpaid 365 days a year
in conditions more fitting to a 19th Century goal.
To
say the girls bond in friendship is misleading as talking is strictly
forbidden, and this a times, leads to a slightly sluggish pace,
as character interaction is minimal.
What
snatches of conversation the girls achieve, highlights the hopelessness
of their situation as their families are as much their jailer as
the nuns.
Ritual
Humiliation
And
what nuns they are! Whilst some nuns may pass the time singing about
climbing mountains, these sisters while away long hours in ritual
humiliation of the girls, naked runs, and abuse are all inherent
in the system.
Brutal
and uncomfortable viewing, but essentially, nothing new.
For
anyone, like me, who religiously (no pun intended) watched ‘Brides
of Christ’, or indeed any drama concerning Orthodox Catholicism
and its often oppressive, hypocritical treatment of women in particular,
this film offers nothing new.
Whilst
the performances were excellent and the film included some beautiful
imagery, a pan across the bleak and bare dorms with a worn and battered
‘Merry Christmas’ banner suspended on the wall, held great pathos,
I couldn’t help but feel that I’d seen it all before.
The
last Magdalene Laundry closed in 1996
That
is however, until the final moments in the film, when a caption
informs the audience that the last Magdalene Laundry closed in 1996.
Shocking
- most certainly, but I am undecided as to whether the nature if
this throw away line strengthened or weakened the piece.
If
this indeed was the point that is to make this investigation of
Catholic hypocrisy different from the so many gone before it, then
should it have been lent more prominance?
Overall,
this film is not an easy watch and it was never intended to be so.
For the performances and the direction, it is a satisfying piece
of cinema, for the subject matter - the jury’s still out.
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