On truths that are painful to see...

The Magdalene Sisters
Film by Peter Mullan

Sure films about the church sex abuse scandals are abundant in their production, and one wouldn't expect less from Ireland (and not surprisingly it won best film at the Venice Film Festival), but this film is extremely interesting because of its view of nuns as sadistic, punitive players in the church hierarchy. What I found particularly intriguing and powerful was the scene where all of the young "sinners" are subjected to a cattle-call like evaluation of their physical attributes, viewed stark naked (with very real bodies) by a pair of derisive nuns who instead of rehabilitating them from their "wayward" ways were intent on destroying their spirits. You can only take so much social denouncement, but this movie, which represented the lives of three women who were responsible for the exposure of the abuses and subsequent demise (in 1996) of the Magdalene laundries, was beautiful and exquisitely painful to watch. It is impossible to watch and not become indignant, but it is not without its touch of sardonic humor.