Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Andro A The Magdalene asylum was one of the cruelest places I can imagine, the movie represents the horrible fates of three young ''sinful'' girls who did nothing wrong being punished by taking them to a seemingly normal laundry which is in fact a well oiled and approved by the general public torture house. Basicaly like prison, but you go there if you get raped and have a baby out of wedlock or flirt with boys. But the thing that differs this from prison movies is that this is way more tragical, they isolate them from their families harshly punish them for trivial reasons and ultimately drive them to insanity and suicide like in the case of Crispina. This movie being sometimes even hard to watch is a harsh reminder that were probably doing better than most of what these people been through. Think about that when your TV dies.

s_ridenhour I agree with the previous reviewer that said if you can't handle a "mind- blank" then don't watch this. All of the character stories hit on every "biggest fear" you could have. All of the stories are HEARTBREAKING. Having been brought up Catholic this is, by far and away, the most disturbing and heartbreaking film I have EVER seen. I literally cried all the way through it. I don't care how many shiny new Popes this church comes up with,this (and the other abuse of it's members/member's children) STILL HAPPENED. This is a very, very well made movie; however, it is NOT easy to watch and will stick with you a LONG time.

aquamanda 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.

Cosmoeticadotcom Brutally psychopathic lesbian nuns and lascivious pedophile priests. What else is new? No, seriously, watching the DVD of The Magdalene Sisters was like a time machine for me. Not that I was ever an unwed mother in an Irish hellhole run by religious extremists, but I did grow up in a poor neighborhood that was patrolled by reprobate and psychotic cops that made the bad cops in Serpico look virginal, by comparison. Those cops, as the nuns in the film, ruled by terror and brutality. People were assaulted and humiliated and denigrated for the least of reasons.This film could have easily veered off track into a running anti-Catholic joke or screed, but its artistic 'reality' is too levelheaded to allow that. Basically, last century in Ireland was a misogynist's utopia. Young women were horded off to laundries to do slave labor for the Roman Catholic church, under the guidance of nuns from the Magdalene sisterhood, whose hope was to redeem prostitutes, unwed mothers, and other 'fallen girls'. The title is a play off this fact and three young women who are the stars of the film. Based upon real women, although for dramatic purposes their tales are condensed into the 1960s (the DVD's documentary Sex In A Cold Climate shows the women the lead characters were based on, and their age range varies over a quarter of a century). Why the 1960s and not the 1940s seems only to be for the belief among many artists that this was the last period of social justice in the world. The three girls represent different archetypes of 'fallen women': the orphan and would be prostitute and sexual temptress Margaret (Anne-Marie Duff), whose crime is flirting with boys at Catholic school; the unwed mother Rose- called Patricia by the nuns (Dorothy Duffy), whose child is taken away from her by her parents, and rape/incest victim Bernadette (Nora-Jane No one), whose brutalizing by her cousin, is followed by her parents shipping away, until her younger brother- who cried out for her as she was taken away, comes to rescue her four years later…. The Catholic Church in Ireland condemned this 2003 film, which is no surprise, but given its problems with pedophile priests, does anyone watching this really believe the claims of sadistic lesbian nuns is NOT credible! That these Magdalene laundry camps were run until 1996 is amazing (in the worst sense), but all too emblemic of the evils of all religion- from the Crusades and Inquisitions, Martin Luther to Torquemada, the Conquistadores and the Taliban. Writer/director Peter Mullan never veers into caricature, which says a lot, given the subject matter, and the acting is utterly superb. McEwan, as Sister Bridget, reeks wickedry like few characters in film history. Even Nurse Ratched, from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, seems kind-hearted by comparison. And this film is worlds better than a similarly-themed film from a few years ago, Girl, Interrupted, which seemed more like a chicks behind bars film. None of the actresses in The Magdalene Sisters are likely to become sex symbols, like the collagen lipped and breast enhanced Angelina Jolie. They are attractive, but real looking.