Mullan examines institutionalized evil

Peter Mullan's latest film bears the unmistakable mark of the beast, the sign that sets certain films apart from the rest of the world of celluloid. A torrent of controversy has surrounded it, primarily coming from the Catholic League, which has denounced Mullan's film as anti-Catholic. \nHowever, any simpleton can push buttons without realizing the method to his madness. Peter Mullan recognizes his method, is unashamed of the madness, and his unflinching look at an inconceivable institution is not only uneasy but demands to be confronted by our emotions and mind. Mullan's most recent is a Golden Lion-winning polemic.\nThe Magdalene Sisters is based around the actual Magdalene Laundries that existed in Ireland in which women deemed a (typically sexual) threat to society were held for an indeterminate time under slave labor and degradation so they could achieve salvation. Some 30,000 women passed through the Magdalene Laundries before the last one shut down in 1996.\nMullan gives us the story of three women whose fictionalized selves are composites of testimony that Mullan took from Magdalene survivors. There is Margaret (Anne-Marie Duff), who was raped by her cousin at a wedding party; Bernadette (Nora-Jane Noone), a flirtatious and, unfortunately, voluptuous schoolgirl who must pay penance for her beauty; and Rose (Dorothy Duffy), who committed the unpardonable sin of bearing a child out of wedlock. \nStructurally following the overly-familiar conventions of a prison-story, Mullan delivers himself from simplistic cliché by being justifiably biased to his characters. The women are heartbreaking and full of humanity, while their religious zealot oppressors are walking embodiments of soulless evil. Geraldine McEwan, playing head Sister Bridget, gives a remarkably sadistic performance.\nMullan's film is angry and mean-spirited. The Catholic League is absolutely right in deeming the film anti-Catholic. But Mullan doesn't stop there. The film is anti-oppression, anti-sexism and anti-class discrimination. There is enough blood on the hands of Christian religion, be it Catholic or Protestant, to damn every soul on this earth and to provide salvation for every atheist who lost his faith while watching travesties being carried out in the name of our Loving Father, Jesus Christ. \nMullan unabashedly strips away the sugar-coated surface of religion to reveal a writhing monster in the hands of the pious. It would serve each of us well to see this film and let it challenge the foundations upon which we build our institutions.