Em Nome de Deus

The Magdelene Sisters is a good portrayal of the very real behaviour of nuns. I am English and emigrated to Canada with my family. I attended a catholic school which was run by these social misfits, and from my very first day, I was persecuted for the following crimes: I had a short hair cut, my hand writing was not neat, I did not know the words to the Canadian national anthem, I had an English accent, I was good at drawing, I failed to smile at the right time during assembly, I slipped on some ice in the school grounds and hurt myself. etc., etc., etc. I was hit countless times during my few months there - before I left the horrible place. I was constantly referred to as "the green horn Englishman",mocked and imitated because of my accent, and belittled because I didn't know the Canadian national anthem, which we were required to sing every morning before lessons began - (I'd only been in the country weeks - I soon learned it). I was kept behind after school regularly because my handwriting was "unacceptable", causing me to miss my bus home (I had a long way to travel). I was once hit across the back of my head with the words "you write like a boy, you talk like a boy - you even look like a boy". I was eight years old. My sister, who was ten, received remarkably similar treatment. I was terrified to tell my parents because I thought they would speak to the nuns and I would be worse off. Instead they thankfully took my sister and me out of school after she admitted what was going on. I have nothing but contempt for these people. I feel that anything which exposes them as they really are can only be of value to society, above all, for the protection of children.

Their idea of problem solving was more based on the Marque de Sade's idea of fun. If you are in the mood for sadism and horror...this is the film for you!!

I could not imagine that such a place as the laundry run by The Order of Magdelene Sisters could exist until I saw this film. The four girls that the story focused on Rose, Bernadette, Margaret and Crispina existed. I have been to Ireland and seen the beauty of that country. I once envied the life of those lucky enough to live there. I don't any longer.

The movie does not attack the Catholic faith so much as give a mindset of the 1960's in Ireland. My word here in the USA hippies were making love not war and these poor girls were only being human beings. I don't like to share the details of a film, but consider that one girl was an orphan and sent to the Magdelene's because she liked to flirt!! One was sent because she was raped!! My goodness, how barbaric can people be? film. And these people were nuns and priests for heaven's sake. Ah and let me not forget the parents who sent their daughters to that place. I will never complain about my parents again. Promise.

Please watch this film.

'The Magdalene Sisters' would be a preposterous story, were it not factual. The actual names and circumstances appear to have been changed for the screenplay, but the original 50-minute documentary, filmed likely in the mid 1990s, tells us that everything, and more, happened to these children, virtually imprisoned for such things as having a child out of wedlock, or being sexually assaulted, or simply happening to look pretty. With no way out, they were forced to work long hours for no pay, operating the Magdalene Sisters' commercial laundry business, the last one until 1996. As one character, the old nun, explains, a strong Ireland requires that its men remain strong, so we have to remove temptation. The critic Ebert has a complete review. The only relevant "extra" on the DVD is the documentary, which features old photos and film, plus remarkable interviews with ladies who had been in a Magdalene Sisters asylum in the 1940s through the 1960s, including the three ladies around whom the movie's three main characters were built. A very gripping movie, well-acted.

What is the difference between the parents of the girls in the asylum and the nuns who ran it? Absolutely nothing; they were both guilty of unspeakable crimes against these girls.

What is the difference between the nuns and Southerners? Absolutely nothing; they both used people as slaves.

The nuns silence as a weapon to keep the women from getting to know each other. One woman (Mary Murray) who ran away is brought back by her father (Peter Mullan), who beats her up in front of the women in the dormitory. Her hair is then cut off by Sister Bridget (Geraldine McEwan) in an attempt to further degrade her. In another instance, the three new arrivals along with others are forced to stand naked in front of a nun who ridicules their body parts. Crispina (Eileen Walsh) is sexually abused by a priest.

The Catholic Church has never apologized for the horrendous and inhumane treatment of over 10,000 girls that were imprisoned in these asylums over a period of 70 years, ending as recently as 1996. To this day, various Christian, Jewish and Islamic fundamentalists continue to subjugate women on account of their fear and hatred of female sexuality and freedom.

Enough has been said about the plot and characters by now that I am only going to add a personal note...which I strongly feel I must. I had to wait for this movie to be released on DVD before I got to see it....having waited patiently since I first read it won awards at the Venice Film Festival.

I am so grateful that Peter Mullen took this project on and that it met with such controversy because that was exactly what was needed for the film to get recognized and viewed by as many people as possible. The more people who see the film the better! The wonderful advantage of having waited for the DVD release is that it came with the brilliant documentary, ‘Sex In A Cold Climate` which inspired the movie.

As a X-Roman Catholic and a survivor of what I refer to as my incarceration...an oppressive Catholic education/indoctrination by the Sisters Of Charity (1957-1958) and the Ursuline Sisters (1959-1969), both old orders of the Catholic Church originating in Europe. I can state with battle-scarred alacrity that behavior as depicted in this movie is not only factual but not nearly cruel enough to tell the true story. From my experience...the Nazi's must have taken lessons in depravity and wickedness from the Sisters Of Charity! These were old world religious orders with dogmas and superstitions that have not changed since Christ's time. The practitioners of this primitive cult like barbarism were mostly ignorant of anything resembling reason or logic not to mention...science. The comparisons to the Taliban is not all that far fetched. Of course there was one or two nuns who had an occasional bout of compassion, but they were not only a minority, they were also downcast within the system. I also realize that not all Catholic orders are of the same cloth as the strict Roman Catholic variety, but I was born into the Irish Catholic variety...one of the worst.

It took me years and a loving cheerful husband to undo the deep melancholia I felt from having grown up with this kind of repression. Now, as a middle aged adult my depression has amalgamated into a outspoken and healthy anger at a religious institution and church that has been allowed for millenniums to abuse it's power. The psychological methods employed by The Catholic establishment is so devoid of compassion and full of hate that had it still existed today in America it would be considered illegal. The only reason these zealot fanatics got away with their brutal treatment of innocent children for so long is because the people they tormented were brainwashed with eternity in hell for even thinking of questioning such God given authority. I spit on that authority!

This movie is not an exaggeration! And it's not restricted to the religious orders in Ireland. If anything it didn't go far enough in depicting the true story. Not enough nefariousness has been said of an institution that routinely turned it's eyes on child molestation and the persecution of women perpetrated by it's leaders. I am so glad that all these Catholic Church and School survivors are suing the church and therefore bringing the atrocities to light. And I applaud Peter Mullen for making such a forceful case against inhumanity in the name of organized religion of any flavor. Christian, Catholic, Islam, Jew...they're all the same...it's all about control and power...and too often it's an aberration of it's original intent.