it makes me a little emotional to write about this. being a movie freak, of any type, i freely give my opinions, mainly balanced ones knowing that perceptions can differ within seconds, however, very few movies touch a chord that brings up the passion in me to write emotionally.
we are ignorant of much of history that powers have managed to bury away from us not because they think we are too weak to accept them but because they are too weak to acknowledge them.
when an order of nuns in dublin sold off part of the convent to real estate developers in recent years, what emerged were the remains of women with scandals buried in unmarked graves. were they prostitutes as the nuns would have readily claimed they were?
the catholic church.
those who know me and have read my blog, please forgive my obstinacy and determination in proving karl marx right over and over again when he stated that religion is the opium of the masses. i don't know... i continue to think that way. he may have said it with some other context in mind but generally, i think we are all followers, we would be absolutely lost if we didnt have anyone to lead us.
the so called prostitutes have been virtual prisoners, confined by the catholic church behind convent walls for perceived sins of the flesh and sentenced to a life of servitude. the place was called the magdalene laundries. another misconception of the bible, mary magdalene was the so called prostitute and therefore wayward women or fallen women who were sent into such a laundry prison, were named just that...the magdalene laundries. and to think they existed until just a decade ago and no one ever raised an objection. makes us lesser beings doesn't it?
and to top it all, just imagine this, they were closed only because they were not profitable enough with the emergence of the washing machine in every home being a possibility. and since i am topping it all, it is more pathetic to know that none of these women were ever given any compensation, not that it mattered, but still, there were no apologies and no regrets.
even though, the magdalene sisters by peter mullan had a more distressing effect and showed real threatening and disturbing behaviour of the nuns, especially the mother superior, the dvd i just witnessed broke me apart.
sex in a cold climate, an appropriate title for a documentary that is so appaling and frightening that you will wish throughout the 50 minutes that it is not based on a true story, that it never really existed.
but it did.
the historical documentary is the horrific true story of sadistic and abusive nuns running a slave laundry factory. (not to mention the sick priests who think these women are their price whenever the sex urge arise). the magdalene laundry in ireland under the auspices of the catholic church's sisters of mercy had young women working under vile circumstances paying for their sins by washing other people's laundry. these girls were accused of sexual or sinful contact with men. this dvd is about an interview with four different women from such an institution, and how they explained what really went on behind those mysterious walls. one such woman's sin was that she was simply too pretty and with her looks she would definitely be a fallen woman unless she was sent to the laundry for discipline. all the four women, eventually escaped from that prison but the emotional and physical scars never left, in fact they literally damaged their entire lives.
i wonder reallly and please help me understand. these nuns have taken vows. what happened? what changed them into beasts and violent prison guards? they spent their every moment delighting in persecuting these young hapless teenagers. what went wrong?
the shameful degradation of the girls being humiliated by the nuns and then what about their families? aren't they beasts too? the movie was only a testimony by the magdalene inmates and even though i have more to say, i wonder why the church never really did anything about this? they did not know?
i ask again. did they not know?
isn't that inexcusable?
was there another side to this story? some measure of good has to be done along with all that is bad right? was there any such good? can we even look for it after knowing what were done to these women? is there a justification for it?
another friend watched this dvd and said she was lucky she did not grow up during those times in ireland, but i say this boldly and with passion, that honestly they are so lucky that i did not grow up during that time. they would have literally been mass murdered.
watch it if u can and know that cruelty did not only exist during hitler's and pol pot's times.
