You come away from the movie not just convinced but cowed.

| Nov 21, 2022

The Magdalene Sisters is an intense watch, but one that allows its central characters a sense of hope and power, even amid the atrocities.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 8, 2021

A disturbing, heartbreaking and gripping portrait of religious paranoia manifested through violence.

| Apr 29, 2009

The movie is an indictment of systems that perpetuate oppression and exploitation by making the administrators believe their every cruel act is justified and by compelling complicity in victims and bystanders.

| Mar 11, 2008

This drama about a shocking reality from recent history balances a light touch with searing intensity and a sense of moral outrage.

| Mar 11, 2008

A damning indictment of the Catholic Church that lingers in the mind long after if ends. Angry, compassionate but never hysterical, this a true cinematic achievement.

| Mar 11, 2008

Grimly believable.

| Mar 11, 2008

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 7, 2007

This is a riveting piece of drama about a forgotten slice of history, no matter what the esteemed movie critics at the Vatican say about it.

| Original Score: A | Sep 27, 2007

Magdelene proves to be touching, potent, and incredibly human in its emotional complexity.

| Original Score: B+ | Jun 21, 2007

A deliberately provocative film that triggers the audience's emotions in order to highlight important issues of personal freedom. Amen to that.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 30, 2006

You may never look at a nun the same way again.

| Feb 9, 2006

The Magdalene Sisters isn't perfect, but it sheds light on a story that needed to be told.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Mar 5, 2005

Mullan has made a vicious and relentless film, but his outrage is well-earned.

Full Review | Original Score: A | Jan 27, 2005

Mullan has done an expert job of creating a harrowing atmosphere without pulling punches or excluding a sharp sense of humor without slipping into bad taste.

| May 21, 2004

Seething with moral outrage...If Mullan sins, it's that his anger gets the better of him. He sacrifices dramatic flow on the altar of polemics.

| Mar 25, 2004

...a powerful, dramatic, moving, dark, and depressing experience.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Mar 18, 2004

Its mode is that of 'a story that needs to be told,' lest we forget the marginalized lessons of history... worth seeing at least once.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Feb 15, 2004

A gut-wrenching expose of the mistreatment of young Irish women at the hands of men, the government and the Catholic Church.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 2, 2004

Bracing and potent, though the film's stylistic polish is sometimes tonally counterintuitive

| Original Score: 74/100 | Jan 29, 2004