The Magdalene Laundries are a peculiarly twisted Irish Catholic institution; run by nuns they provide a form of incarceration for fallen young women, whose heinous crimes range from being raped to flirting with boys. Margaret, Bernadette and Rose are three new inmates about to experience first hand woman's inhumanity to woman as they are humiliated, degraded, abused and worked to the bone, but despite the grimness of their world the three girls find solace and even humour in the company of each other. The Magdalene Sisters is an immensely powerful film, deeply harrowing and moving but also full of hope. A very dark period of not so distant Irish history brought mesmerizingly to life