Both Films, ‘the Magdalene Sisters’ (Peter Mullan, 2002) and ‘the Lives of Others’ (Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck, 2006), Perform a Public Function of Enabling Their Viewers to Work Through the Legacy of Traumatic
Both films, ‘The Magdalene Sisters’ (Peter Mullan, 2002) and ‘The Lives of Others’ (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006), perform a public function of enabling their viewers to work through the legacy of traumatic Irish/ German history. Critically discuss the statement.
As with much of national cinema and national culture both The Magdalene Sisters and The Lives of Others may act as a means of coming to terms with each respective country’s traumatic past. Ruth Barton’s comment “We may argue that The Magdeline Sisters… provide a public function of allowing viewers to work through the legacy of Irish history in its more traumatic formulations”. (Barton 98) She suggests that films such as the Magdalene Sisters can, in retelling the stories of the past, act almost in a cathartic manner, allowing untold emotions and truths to escape through the medium of film. Like the post Holocaust re-examination of the genocide and its horrors, films such as the two mentioned in the title often act as part of the recovery and reconciliation of a nation from its collective past. These representations of the past also often help in creating a revised national narrative, and along with processes such as Truth Commissions (e.g. South Africa) and commemoration, allow for victims to in some way come to terms with the past. This re- remembrance and revisitation of the past can, whilst at times reopening old wounds, have an effect in the healing process, especially in post conflict nations, according to Brewer (214).
The Magdalene Sisters, at the time of its release in 2002, was at the time a very topical and contemporary issue, not least due to the recent uncovering of Church abuse on a systemic level. “The history of Ireland’s Magdalen asylums is, then, incomplete, and the still- emerging facts are even more disturbing than the fiction of Mullan’s film.” (Smith) The consequent discovery of unmarked graves such as those in High Park and Glasnevin cemetery further added to the
As with much of national cinema and national culture both The Magdalene Sisters and The Lives of Others may act as a means of coming to terms with each respective country’s traumatic past. Ruth Barton’s comment “We may argue that The Magdeline Sisters… provide a public function of allowing viewers to work through the legacy of Irish history in its more traumatic formulations”. (Barton 98) She suggests that films such as the Magdalene Sisters can, in retelling the stories of the past, act almost in a cathartic manner, allowing untold emotions and truths to escape through the medium of film. Like the post Holocaust re-examination of the genocide and its horrors, films such as the two mentioned in the title often act as part of the recovery and reconciliation of a nation from its collective past. These representations of the past also often help in creating a revised national narrative, and along with processes such as Truth Commissions (e.g. South Africa) and commemoration, allow for victims to in some way come to terms with the past. This re- remembrance and revisitation of the past can, whilst at times reopening old wounds, have an effect in the healing process, especially in post conflict nations, according to Brewer (214).
The Magdalene Sisters, at the time of its release in 2002, was at the time a very topical and contemporary issue, not least due to the recent uncovering of Church abuse on a systemic level. “The history of Ireland’s Magdalen asylums is, then, incomplete, and the still- emerging facts are even more disturbing than the fiction of Mullan’s film.” (Smith) The consequent discovery of unmarked graves such as those in High Park and Glasnevin cemetery further added to the