Cillian Murphy plays the part of Bill Furlong (quite wonderfully) - born out of wedlock, born into shame, but now has a home and a family and a job hauling truckloads of coal around town in County Wexford. Life is tough, but bearable. The church is a dominant force within the town and, in due course, his daughters will be receiving their education courtesy of the church.
It’s a tale of hardship, self-sacrifice and decency.
Delivering coal to the church laundry (one of Ireland’s notorious Magdalene Laundries: the church’s homes for unwed mothers who were made to work in an atmosphere of wretchedness and shame and had their babies taken away and sold to foster parents), he walks straight in and sees the terrified girls for himself. He realises that the scene probably resembles his own poor unmarried mother’s experience (she was fortunate to have been taken in by a wealthy local woman). The church sister is aware that Bill is witness to scenes that could damage her/the church, but she has his daughters’ educational future in her hands…
Like the book, the film is a powerful, haunting and sobering depiction of the utterly shameful time for the Catholic Church and all those who suffered through its actions.
I urge you to see this excellent film (AND, particularly, read Keegan’s brilliantly impressive novella).
PS: Today was the Watershed’s first screening of the film and it had originally been scheduled to be shown in the small/tiny Cinema 2. Fortunately, the powers-that-be recognised that advanced ticket sales were such as to require the screening to be relocated in Cinema 1 (which was virtually a capacity audience this afternoon). Well done them!
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