The Magdalene Sisters
I’m trying to cut back on the Coca-Cola (aka the Great Caramel-Colored Satan). So I sat watching “The Magdalene Sisters” tonight with no beverage. None. It was quite ascetic, and as such appropriate for the movie, which chronicled the horrors visited on Irish girls sent to the Magdalene laundries run by the Catholic Church.
The endless horror was the main problem with the movie. For me it was so over-the-top that it tripped over its own feet, numbing you to what these girls went through. It’s too bad because the photography was beautiful, and the girls were played by amazingly expressive actresses, especially the breathtakingly exotic Nora-Jane Noone as Bernadette.
I’m not saying that the filmmakers portrayed things that didn’t happen, if not to all the same three girls all at once. But if they had just dialed it back a notch (or 10), they would have really had something.
I’ve heard it’s based on a documentary which is actually a lot more affecting, precisely because it’s more restrained. Are you planning on seeing Veronica Guerin?