The Magdalene Sisters is a superior movie and is now playing at the Charles. We saw it last night and the theater was packed. The subject material is incendiary.

It is a movie of four women who are composites of real people. (The filmmaker, Peter Mullan, tacks on fictitious statements telling what happened to each in the closing credits.) The women are sentenced to work in the Magdalene Laundries from perceived sexual indiscretions in a highly patriarchal (and hypocritical) mid-1960s Irish society. They are traumatized by institutional cruelty from the Catholic nuns who control almost every minute of their days.

The film is obviously social criticism. However, it should also be viewed from the perspective of cinematic art. Mullan (who makes a great cameo as a cruel father returning his daughter to the convent) is an outstanding director. There are many shots that are beautifully composed.

The Magdalene Sisters is bold and uplifting cinema, a triumph of the human spirit. Don't miss it!