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Movies / On DVD / The Magdalene Sisters
The Magdalene Sisters

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The Magdalene Sisters (2003)

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Reviews Counted:143

Fresh:129

Rotten:14

Average Rating:7.6/10

Consensus: A typical women-in-prision film made untypical because it's based on real events.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] violence/cruelty, nudity, sexual content and language

Runtime: 1 hr 59 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Aug 1, 2003 Limited

Box Office: $4,685,516

Synopsis: Peter Mullen's shocking drama THE MAGDALENE SISTERS is based on real events that took place in Ireland from the 1960s until 1996 when an estimated 30,000 young women, considered by their families... Peter Mullen's shocking drama THE MAGDALENE SISTERS is based on real events that took place in Ireland from the 1960s until 1996 when an estimated 30,000 young women, considered by their families to have committed sexual sins, were sent away from their homes to earn penitence working in profit-making laundries run by the Sisters of Magdalene Order. However, the acts the girls committed to have been sent to these miserable prisons were clearly not punishable. What's worse, the nuns were cruel money grubbers who worked the girls to the point of exhaustion, and used poor living conditions and psychological abuse to break and brainwash the girls into subservience. The awful treatment the nuns gave these innocent young women was terrifying, and the ways the girls suffered were utterly disturbing. Mullen designed the fictional characters in the film based on interviews with actual survivors of the laundries, working their stories into his plot. Margaret (Anne-Marie Duff) is a shy girl who is raped by her cousin at a wedding shaming her family, Patricia/Rose (Dorothy Duff) gets pregnant and her parents take her baby away from her, Bernadette (Nora-Jane Noone) is a pretty girl who is deemed "too flirtatious," and Crispina (Eileen Walsh) is a loving young mom whose children are forbidden to see her and are being raised by her sister. The imposing Sister Bridget (Geraldine McEwan) is pure evil, and will strike fear into the souls of MAGDALENE viewers. With this expertly crafted, haunting film, Mullen presents his second feature, following 1999's ORPHANS. [More]

Starring: Geraldine McEwan, Dorothy Duffy, Anne-Marie Duff, Eileen Walsh

Starring: Geraldine McEwan, Dorothy Duffy, Anne-Marie Duff, Eileen Walsh, Nora-Jane Noone

Director: Peter Mullan

Director: Peter Mullan
Screenwriter: Peter Mullan
Producer: Frances Higson
Studio: Miramax Films

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Release:

Mar 23, 2004

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • The Magdalene Sisters
  • A stirring, must-see motion picture critics called one of the best films of the year, THE MAGDALENE SISTERS is the triumphant story of three extraordinary women whose courage to defy a century of injustice would inspire a nation! Abandoned by society and cast out by their families for crimes they did not commit, these women found themselves stripped of their liberty and dignity and condemned to indefinite sentences of manual labor. Within the church-run Magdalene Laundries, these women were forced into unbearable institutional servitude in order to cleanse themselves of the "sins" of which they had been accused. From acclaimed director Peter Mullan, this award-winning powerhouse not only reveals the truth behind one of the great tragedies of our time, but celebrates the bravery that would bring it to an end!
  • Source: Buena Vista Home Entertainment.
  •  
     
     
     

    Reviews for The Magdalene Sisters

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    Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
    04/29/09
    Felix Vasquez Jr.
    Felix Vasquez Jr.
    Cinema Crazed

    The movie is an indictment of systems that perpetuate oppression and exploitation by making the administrators believe their every cruel act is justified and by compelling complicity in victims and bystanders.

    Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | comment Comment
    03/11/08
    Philip French
    Philip French
    Observer [UK]

    This drama about a shocking reality from recent history balances a light touch with searing intensity and a sense of moral outrage.

    Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
    03/11/08
    David Rooney
    David Rooney
    Variety
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    A damning indictment of the Catholic Church that lingers in the mind long after if ends. Angry, compassionate but never hysterical, this a true cinematic achievement.

    Full Review Source: Film4 | comment Comment
    03/11/08
    James Mottram
    James Mottram
    Film4

    Grimly believable.

    Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
    03/11/08
    Jonathan Rosenbaum
    Jonathan Rosenbaum
    Chicago Reader
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    This is a riveting piece of drama about a forgotten slice of history, no matter what the esteemed movie critics at the Vatican say about it.

    Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
    09/27/07
    Rob Gonsalves
    Rob Gonsalves
    eFilmCritic.com

    A deliberately provocative film that triggers the audience's emotions in order to highlight important issues of personal freedom. Amen to that.

    Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
    12/30/06
    Alan Morrison
    Alan Morrison
    Empire Magazine

    You may never look at a nun the same way again.

    Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
    02/09/06
    Time Out

    The Magdalene Sisters isn't perfect, but it sheds light on a story that needed to be told.

    Full Review Source: NYC Film Critic | comment Comment
    03/05/05
    Ethan Alter
    Ethan Alter
    NYC Film Critic

    Mullan has made a vicious and relentless film, but his outrage is well-earned.

    Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment Comment
    01/27/05
    Philip Martin
    Philip Martin
    Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

    Mullan has done an expert job of creating a harrowing atmosphere without pulling punches or excluding a sharp sense of humor without slipping into bad taste.

    Full Review Source: Las Vegas CityLife | comment Comment
    05/21/04
    Matt Kelemen
    Matt Kelemen
    Las Vegas CityLife

    Seething with moral outrage...If Mullan sins, it’s that his anger gets the better of him. He sacrifices dramatic flow on the altar of polemics.

    Full Review Source: Boulder Weekly | comment Comment
    03/25/04
    Thomas Delapa
    Thomas Delapa
    Boulder Weekly

    ...a powerful, dramatic, moving, dark, and depressing experience.

    Full Review Source: DVDTown.com | comment Comment
    03/18/04
    John J. Puccio
    John J. Puccio
    DVDTown.com

    Its mode is that of 'a story that needs to be told,' lest we forget the marginalized lessons of history... worth seeing at least once.

    Full Review Source: Window to the Movies | comment Comment
    02/15/04
    Jeffrey Chen
    Jeffrey Chen
    Window to the Movies

    A gut-wrenching expose of the mistreatment of young Irish women at the hands of men, the government and the Catholic Church.

    Full Review Source: Boston Herald | comment Comment
    02/02/04
    Paul Sherman
    Paul Sherman
    Boston Herald

    Bracing and potent, though the film's stylistic polish is sometimes tonally counterintuitive

    Full Review Source: Cinemania | comment Comment
    01/29/04
    Dan Jardine
    Dan Jardine
    Cinemania

    A harrowing indictment of the atrocities performed in the name of organized religion.

    Full Review Source: Movie Boeuf | comment Comment
    01/27/04
    David N. Butterworth
    David N. Butterworth
    Movie Boeuf

    Beautifully directed and acted, Mullen's movie seems to be made with the same purpose as last year's Bloody Sunday, that of atonement and catharsis.

    Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
    01/24/04
    Collin Souter
    Collin Souter
    eFilmCritic.com

    Um filme forte e relevante.

    Full Review Source: Cinema em Cena | comment Comment
    01/14/04
    Pablo Villaca
    Pablo Villaca
    Cinema em Cena

    Very good cinematically and it uncovers terrible injustices, but journalistically, it shoots itself in the foot.

    Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope | comment Comment
    01/06/04
    Robert Roten
    Robert Roten
    Laramie Movie Scope
     
     
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