The Nun's Story

[ken123]

As a child my parents took me to see this film, but I'm sure that I fell asleep during it. I dont recall seeing it since. I would love some comments on the film because recently I read somewhere on the net that this film was Hollywood's opening salvo on the Church. I dont remember who wrote that, but I think that it was Mr Donahue of The Catholic League, I do remember it was a rightwing Catholic source .

[mrsl]

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Although I've seen this film several times in my lifetime, I strongly recall the first time. It was a 'treat' for us at my girls only Catholic high school. I remember my homeroom nun telling us not to pay attention to the end of the movie, but not giving us a reason. Well, she needn't have bothered because we never got to see it. For some reason, something happened 'to the film' and it broke just before the end. Naturally I couldn't wait to see the ending at the theater, so I talked my friend into going with me. I'm not sure what 'salvo' actually means, but if it was some kind of acknowledgement to the religion, I don't see how it could be welcomed by the Pope.

Reasons:

1. Sister Luke never lost her sense of vanity.

2. There was a definite unspoken feeling between her and the doctor.

3. The church never (at that time) made any reference to the possibility that someone might actually leave the sisterhood, or priesthood.

4. Nuns never work alone, even as night guards in the hospital ward halls, there would always be two on duty. It is an aid to have each sister help the other overcome any failure to concentrate solely on the job at hand.
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Besides that, Audrey Hepburn was marvelous as Sister Luke, and I kept thinking I had never seen a nun who looked even remotely like her. Peter Finch, who I had never seen before charmed my teenage heart, and part of my eagerness to see the end, was to learn if she returned to him and the Congo. It's basically a womans movie but I think there is enough action in the Congo to make a man happy to sit and watch it. I know it received raves back at its opening and stayed in the downtown theater for months before we were able to see it in the neighborhood.

[charliechaplinfan]

I think it's a brilliant performances by Audrey Hepburn and Peter Finch, like Anne says, it is a woman's movie by my hubby quite liked it. If you like your movies subtle and meandering, it's the film for you.

[moira finnie]

Just my opinion, but if director Fred Zinnemann made only Act of Violence and The Nun's Story in his long career, that would have been enough. This movie is the finest dramatic film of Audrey Hepburn's considerable career with an exemplary ensemble cast highlighted by Peter Finch's contribution as well as that of a huge amount of female talent, which included Edith Evans, Peggy Ashcroft, Mildred Dunnock, Patricia Collinge, and Colleen Dewhurst.

Hepburn played a character based on a real life nun with whom author Kathryn Hulme formed a bond in the years between the wars and immediately after. That nun left the order as well, but the novel and the film both depicted the beauty and the restrictions inherent in any religious institution's development. It did not castigate anyone, but tried to highlight the spiritual struggle of Sister Luke (Hepburn's character) as a credible, flawed and highly intelligent human being on screen coping with big and small issues such as war, commitment, pride in one's work, desire and solitude. I'm sure that there were elements at the Vatican who objected to the depiction of nuns in the fifties as human beings, but those reactionaries probably never saw nor understood this film. It is not about abandoning faith, but about living it, despite the world around you. There is a line in the book and film that refers to this struggle and encapsulates the essence of this nun's lifelong search rather well as she tries to "be in the world, but not of the world."

Ken, this movie is readily available on DVD (used copies on Amazon are less then five dollars), and worth viewing. I think you might enjoy it a great deal. You can also pick up the book for very little there and I'm sure that the Chicago library probably has a copy too.

[ken123]

Ken, this movie is readily available on DVD (used copies on Amazon are less then five dollars), and worth viewing. I think you might enjoy it a great deal. You can also pick up the book for very little there and I'm sure that the Chicago library probably has a copy too.

Thanks Moira

[ken123]

To Mr William Donahue, of the Catholic League, ( mentioned it my opening post ) Hollywood is, and has been for many years, out to get the Church. Recently I was at another rightwing site and it offered a column that asserted that he the aurthor, who for some reason I gathered to be about my age, ( YIKES ! )that offered a positive image of Christianity. Had this nitwit never seen Strange Cargo, Ben - Hur ( both films give ultra positive images of Jesus ) The Song of Bernadette, Our Lady of Fatima, most John Ford films give a positive nod to Christianity, often of the Catholic kind, but Ford is most critical of hypocritical Christians, usually of the conservative type, one such being Sir Roger Shugrue ( Willis Bouchey ) in The Last Hurrah. John Huston in Treasure of the Sierra Madre gives a most postive image to the villagers where the young boy is being attented to by " Doc " Walter Huston ( aka Howard ) Capra's Its a Wonderful Life reeks in its anti christian anti Christmas spirit. (just kidding ) Ditto for Leo McCareys films, they are a bit too sugery for me. Yes all those Warner Cagney - O' Brien films are loaded with anti Catholic sentiment. A few Saturdays ago when TCM was showing " The Sullivans " OMG was what an anti Catholic film,( jk ) later that night local station WGN was showing " Finding Private Ryan ", and boy was I taken in by that, it reeks of anti - Catholicism. I never fail to cry when I see the scene where the army man and the priest are about to tell Mrs Ryan that she has lost another son. Yep never a positive imagine of the church or Christianity. The quality of films has declined over the last 30 plus years and their are more brazen in depicting sex, foul language, and violence, but I find very often people are looking for things that aren't there and get sidetracked by trivial issues.

[charliechaplinfan]

Ken, this is the second thread of yours that I've seen that involves Catholicism. Where does your interest in Catholicism come from? I'm merely curious.

[ken123]

Ken, this is the second thread of yours that I've seen that involves Catholicism. Where does your interest in Catholicism come from? I'm merely curious.

]Well I quess that's because I've been a Catholic all my life. The Church might not see it that way,buts thats a topic for another time & place.]

[charliechaplinfan]

We have something in common . My upbringing and education was a Catholic one but on me it has left no scars despite one teacher instilling a fear of dying overnight and going to the devil, I think it's because the church was getting more lenient by that time and it was just one teacher who was left over from times gone by. My auntie was educated by nuns and has no time for Catholicism now, the strictness and the regime did the opposite of what it ought. My kids are now educated in a Catholic school, I think they have the balance right, no fear involved but an understanding of the Bible stories and what Jesus did for us. They are still young but it's a great starting point.

[ken123]

We have something in common . My upbringing and education was a Catholic one but on me it has left no scars despite one teacher instilling a fear of dying overnight and going to the devil, I think it's because the church was getting more lenient by that time and it was just one teacher who was left over from times gone by. My auntie was educated by nuns and has no time for Catholicism now, the strictness and the regime did the opposite of what it ought. My kids are now educated in a Catholic school, I think they have the balance right, no fear involved but an understanding of the Bible stories and what Jesus did for us. They are still young but it's a great starting point.

[mrsl]

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Actually, if you're looking for a movie that depicts the perfection that most Catholic nuns and priests are trying to achieve, you can find it in Gregory Pecks portrayal of the young priest in Keys to the Kingdom. It's a wonderful story about his friendly battles with the landowner and attempts to get more proper working conditions for the people of a small village in China. He ages about 50 years throughout, and I believe it was his first starring role. If that is the case, you would never know it because his portrayal is a fascinating achievement.
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[ken123]

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Actually, if you're looking for a movie that depicts the perfection that most Catholic nuns and priests are trying to achieve, you can find it in Gregory Pecks portrayal of the young priest in Keys to the Kingdom. It's a wonderful story about his friendly battles with the landowner and attempts to get more proper working conditions for the people of a small village in China. He ages about 50 years throughout, and I believe it was his first starring role. If that is the case, you would never know it because his portrayal is a fascinating achievement.
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I totally agree.

[charliechaplinfan]

I've not seen that movie.

I like I Confess another Catholic movie.

[ken123]

The film is NOT anti Catholic.

[mrsl]

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Ken:

You are correct, but the film is not about Catholicism at all, it is the story of a woman striving to achieve the goals set forth by the career she has chosen. Granted the goals are more lofty than the normal career, but still she struggles to achieve them and in most cases, loses. She cannot avoid being proud of her father, or that she is a good nurse. She cannot discipline herself to not being angry when she doesn't get the order to go to the Congo, nor happy when she finally does. I believe she does have feelings for Dr. Fortunato, but fights her conscience in not acknowledging his. If you compare Sister Luke to Deborah Kerr's Nun in Heaven Knows Mr. Allison, who has no problem putting the facts to him to discourage his fledgling feelings because Deborah loves the marine as a child of man, not a man, (or like a brother). I have a lot more ideas but you have to spend a lot of time with nuns to understand their mindset. After 4 years of attending high school with them, I realized later just how they used psychology to try to interest us in joining the convent, and that is a bad subject to deal with.
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