I watched the Magdalene Sister this afternoon. A very good movie. I did some research afterwards even just to see what I could find, but I found mostly movie reviews. Here's the basic idea:
Under pressure from the Church and its archaic mores, families sent daughters who were deemed wayward to the asylums. The girls were brutalized and worked long hours every day but Christmas, for no pay. The choice of work was not accidental. Called “Magdalenes,” or penitents, the inmates were intended to scrub away their sins by scrubbing clean the dirty laundry from orphanages, churches, prisons and local businesses. Many of the women were so broken in spirit and isolated from the outside world that they chose asylum labor over leaving the institutions, some remaining until they died. The Catholic Church in Ireland indentured more than 30,000 women and girls in the Magdalene Asylums. Amazingly, the last one was not closed until 1996.
This world can be a crazy place. A lot of the articles seemed amazed this was such a recent thing, but I'm sure there's much worse things happening on a daily basis. A movie that can be moving, however, is a good way to motivate folks to work our world a better place - even if only one person at a time.
The movie has a few very moving and memorable scenes. I would definitely recommend it, but leave the kiddee's at home.
8:16:04 PM 
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