IRELAND
Irish Times
JOE HUMPHREYS
McAleese report raises questions about accuracy of how Magdalene laundries have been portrayed
A feature of the campaign for justice for the women of the Magdalene laundries has been the role of historical dramatisations on stage and screen.
Over the past 20 years, there has been a series of plays and movies about what went on behind the institutions’ walls. These played a major part in shaping public opinion as well as bringing the issue to international attention.
None has had greater reach than The Magdalene Sisters, the 2002 film directed by Peter Mullan which won the coveted Golden Lion award on its release at the Venice Film Festival.
It tells the harrowing story of four teenage girls admitted to a laundry where they experience or witness routine physical and sexual abuse by nuns and a priest. Like many dramatisations, it depicts the laundries as profitable, money-making rackets, and shows the women subjected to various indignities including head-shaving.
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