While the film itself does nothing new with the format of a documentary, I don't get the impression that was their goal. They simply wanted to bring this story to the world, and in that they succeeded. The Magdalene were obviously the next thing to a concentration camp for wayward girls, and that they were allowed to persist in their mass execution of the human spirit shows the true evil inherent in organized religion.
I'm sure there is a another side to the story; isn't there always? No doubt some measure of good was done along with all the bad, but you won't see it here, nor would you be willing to go looking for it after hearing some of the things that were done to these women. There is just no excuse for it, no reason, no justification. After watching this you may find yourself tempted to kick an Irish nun.
The documentary is tightly filmed, clear, concise. Not a moment is wasted in idle speculation or theorizing, every frame is devoted to telling the story of four women who were subjected to the brutalization of the Magdalene sisters and somewhat of their lives before and after. If you have the merest interest in the subject, it's an excellent source of information, watchable and charged with emotion.
