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20 August 2007

"Blessed are the pure at heart for they shall see God."

In the Living Room, Toronto, ON, 20-Aug-07

"So close your eyes and dream."

Things I saw this evening:

The lives of others.

Earlier today, I'd read a post that SBP had written about The Exorcist, and I'd commented on how frightening I find that film to this day. I didn't imagine that I'd see an equally chilling film a few hours later, with such a similar theme.

SBP replied to my comment by remarking that "evil knowing no limits is effectively depicted" in The Exorcist, and I would argue that The Magdalene Sisters effectively depicts the evils that can result when faith knows no limits. I cannot deny that faith is important and necessary for so many; be warned, however, that faith without reason is a terribly blinding, dangerous path.


TRACK LISTING: Me'Shell NdegéOcello, "Mary Magdalene"

[NOTE: The image above is a still taken from Sex in a Cold Climate, one of the inspirations for The Magdalene Sisters.]

5 comments:

Simon Thibault said...

i love that film.

and then you find out the last laundry closed in the 80's.

the fucking 80's!!!!

there was a magdalene laundry on vancouver island if i remember correctly.

oddly enough, i was talking about this film on sunday night with a couple of friends.

serendipity baby.

Anonymous said...

Great post. Couldn't let it slip by without calling out for Joni Mitchell's "The Magdalene Laundries"...
Love that song.
cc

Nirmala Basnayake said...

Simon -- You spoke of the film on Sunday and I watched it on Monday...serendipity for sure.

But...wow. I can't believe there was a Magdalene laundry on Vancouver Island. Maybe I just don't want to believe it. Really, there was so much in this film that shocked me, that I thought couldn't possibly have happened. But the DVD of the movie includes Sex in a Cold Climate, so I had to believe. It still makes me depressed that the institution lasted so long. (I heard some were still operating in the mid-Nineties, but I am more than happy to correct that information to an Eighties cut-off date.)

The whole story was like a punch in the gut. I will remember the movie every time I think my life is hard.


CC -- Thank you. That JM song is so sad, even without the history of the laundries as context. Which, I suppose, is why JM is a revered songwriter. In retrospect, I probably should have used that track as accompaniment to the post!

SBP said...

I have to see The Magdalene Sisters, I have never heard of it until now. The road to hell is surely paved with good intentions.

Nirmala Basnayake said...

>The road to hell is surely paved with good intentions.

Exactly.

It's funny -- The Magdalene Sisters seems so exaggerated at first, because it's difficult to believe things like this happened. I see how it might turn people off, not because they're put off by the violence or degradation, but because they see the film as a one-sided smear job. But these things did happen, borne out of good intentions like you mentioned, and it definitely deserves a viewing even if you don't end up agreeing with its ethos.

I don't think anyone can enjoy this film, though -- certainly not in terms of pleasure.