BEFORE: I didn't realize that Franco Nero and Vanessa Redgrave were married in real life, after meeting on the set of "Camelot" - though it seems they didn't get married until 2006. But they've been together a long time, I guess after 40 years they figured, "What the heck..." and took the plunge. They've both had long acting careers, and Vanessa Redgrave would have been a great link back to more current films - if only I hadn't seen all of the films on my list with her in them (two this year already, like 2017's "Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool"). Each time I go back to watch a film from the 1950's or 60's, it's tougher and tougher to find a way back...eventually it will become impossible.
Never fear, I've got a few more films from those decades to watch, and I've already figured out a way back to the future, err, more recent past. TCM ran an Audrey Hepburn marathon some time in 2017, I think she was their "Artist of the Month" and I picked up three films - this was before I had to change cable boxes and I lost the ability to dub movies from TCM to DVD in the process. But this film is going to serve as a link between two films about King Arthur, and then tomorrow's film will link back to the other two films with Audrey Hepburn, and then I'll be back in the 2000's before you know it.
Lionel Jeffries carries over from "Camelot".
THE PLOT: After leaving a wealthy Belgian family to become a nun, Sister Luke struggles with her devotion to her vows during crisis, disappointment and World War II.
AFTER: According to TCM, Audrey Hepburn often said that this was her favorite of all of her films. Well, that makes one of us. This was probably a big mistake for me to watch this film, all it really did was drag up all my old Catholic guilt over not going to church, and that just left me feeling uncomfortable and unsettled.
Don't get me wrong, if somebody wants to devote their life to the church and go out and do charitable works in God's name, that's fine. But they can also get out there and do charitable works without the church being involved, because the church is obviously always going to take its cut. Any religion has overhead and operating costs, despite being tax-exempt in the U.S. those are still going to keep adding up, and they probably take up the majority of the donations received. You're better off cutting out the middle man and handing money to that guy sleeping on a bench, though he probably can't give you a receipt for it. But maybe there are charitable organizations out there with low operating costs that can get more of your donation to where it can do some good.
I admit it's a little interesting to see the process that a woman goes through on the way to becoming a nun - but I didn't realize that this was a process of breaking down, I found it similar to military boot camp, at least the ones seen in movies. Cutting hair short, putting on the same uniform as everyone else, not being in contact with friends and family - this is a form of training that tends to de-personalize soldiers, almost de-humanizing them, which in a way reflects their new status as expendable, willing to die for their country. If this is how they really train nuns (or used to) then it seems like a similar process to me, like training soldiers for God's army. But this whole "Brides of Christ" thing, I find that more than a little creepy. It's bad enough that Catholics genuinely believe that bread and wine gets physically transformed into Jesus' body and blood so they can eat and drink it, now we're talking about people who "marry" their Lord and savior, at least metaphorically? That seems rather suspicious to me.
Meanwhile, they can't talk for most of the day, they have to follow all orders given to them, walk a certain way, act meek at all times, seek penance for all their sins, real or perceived, etc. Screw that! Sure, it's all a part of this process that creates an air of humility so they can serve God, but who says that humility is required? Show me that passage in the Bible. Meanwhile, their order is sending missionaries to undeveloped parts of the world, telling the natives how GREAT Christianity is - how is that being humble? You're bragging about your religion and what it offers to THOSE people over there, meanwhile the most devout people (that's the intention, anyway) aren't allowed to brag? Give me a break.
And the constant confessing about breaking the rules, or wanting to break the rules, or even being tempted to break the rules? Doesn't that tell you something about the rules, that they're a pain in the ass, and run counter to human feelings and thoughts? And they get you in these traps - like you're supposed to be humble, but if you succeed in being humble, you can't take any pride at all in the fact that you managed to stay humble, because then you've negated the progress. So, that means there will be NO recognition for your accomplishments, so get used to the daily grind that's designed to wear you down and not reward or congratulate you at any point. Plus, all this confessing for themselves and for others reminded me a LOT of the e-meter process that was shown in the Scientology documentary. (Probably Scientology borrowed this from Catholicism, but the point remains, that I think there's a very fine line between a religion and a cult. I'm inclined to lump the two in together and treat them the same, based on what I've seen over the years)
I forgot about the Belgian Congo - so I guess Belgian nuns were tasked with going there, working as nurses and also doing a little bit of proselytzing on the side, right? You just know whatever they do for the natives to help them stay healthy, teach them how to bathe their children and treat illness, they're going to let them KNOW that this all comes from God. Their God, the good one. Oh, I can't stand this kind of pretension, that the white man knows better about heaven and the afterlife, their God is the only correct one, the natives couldn't possibly understand how to run their lives without a belief in the Christian true god...acting like know-it-alls when the real truth is that nobody knows ANYTHING about how the universe works spiritually, if at all, and anyone who does is just basing that on the way they WISH the universe works, which is not exactly the same thing.
And then when World War II rolls around, the order of nuns is told to just continue their work, not take a stand against the invading Nazis or pass judgement in any way. What a crock - didn't the Pope apologize for the Catholic Church's non-involvment in World War II, decades later? So if it's wrong NOW to not have condemned Fascism, then logically it was wrong back THEN too, but that would have taken some balls that apparently the Pope at the time didn't have.
Sorry, this just dredged up too many old lingering issues for me, this wasn't really enjoyable for me to watch. I don't know why everyone in the 1960's and 70's was so enamored of nuns - "The Sound of Music", "A Change of Habit", "The Flying Nun", etc. - I just don't get it.
Also starring Audrey Hepburn (last seen in "Two for the Road"), Peter Finch (last seen in "The Flight of the Phoenix"), Edith Evans (last seen in "Fitzwilly"), Peggy Ashcroft (last seen in "The 39 Steps"), Dean Jagger (last seen in "The Robe"), Mildred Dunnock (last seen in "The Pick-Up Artist"), Beatrice Straight, Patricia Collinge (last seen in "Shadow of a Doubt"), Rosalie Crutchley, Ruth White (last seen in "To Kill a Mockingbird"), Barbara O'Neil (last seen in "Stella Dallas"), Margaret Phillips, Patricia Bosworth, Colleen Dewhurst (last seen in "The Dead Zone"), Stephen Murray, Niall MacGinnis (last seen in "Lust for Life"), Jeanette Sterke (ditto), Eva Kotthaus (last seen in "A Farewell to Arms"), Molly Urquhart, Dorothy Alison, Richard O'Sullivan (last seen in "Cleopatra"), Errol John, Diana Lambert, Orlando Martins
RATING: 3 out of 10 violent schizophrenics
No comments:
Post a Comment