Anyone and Everyone - Documentary Review

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(More customer reviews)Over the years I have seen many coming out films, dramas, comedies, short films, and documentaries. Each of these have had one thing in common: they have told our stories, the stories of gay men and lesbians on their personal journeys. Susan Schutz had produced a coming out film that breaks out of this mold by telling us the coming out journey of the parents of gay and lesbian children. Each family in the film has a unique story -- Schutz has included families from all across the nation covering a variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds. When I first saw this DVD I was totally blown away by the honesty and openness of each family. I laughed, I cried, I was moved. This is truly an amazing film. It should be seen by anyone and everyone.

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Connected by having a son or daughter who is gay, parents across the country discuss their experiences in the documentary Anyone and Everyone. In it, filmmaker Susan Polis Schutz, depicts families from all walks of life. Individuals from such diverse backgrounds as Japanese, Bolivian, and Cherokee, as well as from various religious denominations such as Mormon, Jewish, Roman Catholic, Hindu, and Southern Baptist, share intimate accounts of how their children revealed their sexual orientation and discuss their responses. The parents also talk about struggling with the pain of their sons and daughters dealing with not being accepted by relatives or friends, and being ostracized by religious congregations. "It was so evil and so bad that we almost couldn t talk about it... You just had the idea it was so terrible that it was unspeakable," said a Mormon mother in the film. "Having heard all these awful things and what homosexuality was and then having a member of your family, a person that you have seen, a child that you have seen since the child was born, a person that was absolutely wholesome, good, kind, gentle and that put together with the word lesbian didn t add up," said a hispanic mother. This film is especially important since up to 26% of gay teens who come out to their parents or guardians are told they must leave home. Of the approximately 1.6 million homeless American youth, 20-40% identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. Nearly 40% of LGBT (GLBT) students report being physically harassed. In a 2001 Department of Health study of youth in Massachusetts, about 40 percent of gay and lesbian students attempted suicide, compared to about 10 percent of their heterosexual peers.

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The Bible Series Box Set (2000) Review

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(More customer reviews)Three out of these four DVDs are excellent! This is probably the nicest series of Bible stories available. The photography is beautiful, as well as the costumes, props and sets; the acting of the main characters is superb, likeable and believable; and the scripts usually stay very close to the actual Bible verses.
Genesis is the only stinker in this set. It is nothing like the other 3. The Genesis DVD has nice photography, but it does NOT act out the Bible scenes like the other three movies do! Genesis just narrates a reading of the book of Genesis, while showing contemporary desert people going about their daily lives.
If you are undecided about buying the whole set, then I would suggest buying at least one of these separately. "Jeremiah" is my favorite, and it really captures the attitude of a humble prophet being persecuted by the wayward Israelites. "Esther" is probably the most accurately told of these three good movies. It is a pretty clear storytelling, where the other movies sometimes change the order of events (but still portray the overall message accurately). "Solomon" covers the biggest chunk of Scripture, retelling many scenes of the life of Solomon and what Solomon wrote in the Bible.
I would rate the Genesis movie with 1 star, for being so misleading as to its content. But the other 3 films, Esther, Solomon, and Jeremiah are all 5 star movies! Even with the useless Genesis, the price of this DVD set is still a bit cheaper to buy the three good movies here, at one price, than to buy them one at a time.

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BIBLE SERIES 4 PACK (DVD MOVIE)

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Gabriel (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)Synopsis: The Archangel Gabriel descends into the intermediate world of Purgatory on a mission to destroy a group of fallen angels who have taken control of the realm, thus preventing the human souls there from evolving upward. Six Archs (Archangels) have preceded Gabriel on this dangerous mission and all have mysteriously disappeared into the foreboding landscape. Will Gabriel be able to stand alone against the combined forces of Sammael, Amodeus, Lilith, Molloch, Ahriman and the rest? And what of the six missing Archs? What horrible fate has befallen them?
Critique: The '07 film `Gabriel' has cleverly blended disparate elements from numerable popular, financially successful films and added several interesting ideas of its own into one storyline that may not be highly original but is definitely entertaining.
Recipe for making `Gabriel':
- Begin with the basic ingredients (storyline) from the cult classic `The Prophecy' minus the comedic elements provided by Christopher Walken,
- Blend with the graphic, cinematic style of `Sin City',
- Sprinkle liberally with some of the pervasive melancholy made famous in `The Crow',
- Add a pinch of costuming ala `The Matrix', one creepy looking bald, vampirish bad guy reminiscent of `Blade II', an attractive brunette who bears a strong resemblance to Kate Beckinsale as she appeared in `Underworld' and a little `City of Angels' at the very end.
Secret Ingredient:
-For a deeper more profound flavoring check out an obscure, Indie film from '03 titled `The Despiser'. It also deals with a war in Purgatory in which the ultimate danger is that death in this realm equates to permanent extinction. Sound familiar?
While there are plenty of similarities and comparisons one can make with other films `Gabriel' is still somehow unique enough to carry a distinct flavor and texture all its own that should attract a wide audience of loyal fans. I'm certainly one!

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Gabriel is a dark action/drama that takes place in the realm of Purgatory. It reveals the struggle between Arc and Fallen angels for control over the city and its population of re-born souls. At present, darkness rules and Gabriel, the last of seven Arcs sent to return light, must assume a human form for the first time. In the darkest places of the human soul, this lone arc angel's battle with his human feelings and emotions will prove as perilous as facing the Fallen. Purgatory's dangerous and seedy underworld will reveal the human condition as frail and strong, as corruptible and honorable but always undeniably powerful and precious.

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COLLISION: Christopher Hitchens vs. Douglas Wilson Review

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(More customer reviews)I was lucky to see an advance of 'Collision'. Hitchens is at his best and Wilson is his perfect foil. It was so refreshing to hear two intelligent, passionate and knowledgeable men able to have a meaningful debate/discourse without it degenerating to any disrespectful level - (especially in these current times).
The evolution of their debate and discourse is also quite interesting. It could just be good editing, but I believed these men listened to each other and were often challenged to not rely on their standard answers and thoughts. The debate increases in enjoyment because of it. It was also refreshing to see them often agree with one another, on completely different merits - (not fundamentally of course).
My level of respect has risen for both of them. Whatever your belief system, or lack thereof, this film will challenge some of your ideas. I highly recommend it.

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The documentary COLLISION pits leading atheist, political journalist and author Christopher Hitchens (God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything) against fellow author and evangelical theologian Pastor Douglas Wilson on a debate tour arguing the topic “Is Religion Good For The World?”. Lives and worldviews collide as Hitchens and Wilson wittily and passionately argue the timeless question, proving to be perfectly matched intellectual, philosophical, and cinematic rivals. COLLISION is directed by prolific independent filmmaker Darren Doane (Van Morrison: To Be Born Again, The Battle For L.A., Godmoney). This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

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The God Who Wasn't There (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)The reviewer who felt "let down" by this DVD and who worried that it was "teasing Christians" is either totally clueless or is engaged in a subtle attempt to discourage viewership.
I was impressed by the manner in which the director laid out his case for the non-existence of a historical Jesus. The information comes from scholars, researchers, and amatuer investigators, and is all available elsewhere, but this DVD brings the ideas together quickly and concisely. He then engages in a series of short interviews with those same scholars, researchers, and amatuer investigators, essentially allowing them to state their part of the case directly. (More in-depth interviews are available in the special features section of the DVD).
Equally illuminating are the interviews with believers in Jesus, who are allowed to make their own statements of belief without interruption. The fact that none of the believers were able to demonstrate any knowledge of the known history of Jesus or the early church demonstrates just how effectively Christian leaders have been able to divert attention from these controversial issues.
But the most compelling part of the film is the ending, where the director (a former evangelical Christian himself) visits the fundamentalist school he attended as a child and interviews the current president of that school. I won't reveal the dramatic ending to that interview (and to the film) but it truly tied everything together (the history, the controversy, and the impact on individuals today).
If you are a big fan of the Rev. Pat Robertson, (who just advised the people of Dover, PA., that they are no longer entitled to God's protection because they voted out a school board that supported teaching "Intelligent Design" in science class), then don't get this DVD. For anyone with an open mind on the subject, even if you are already aware of the intellectual arguments against the existence of Jesus, this DVD brings focus and a human context to the debate.

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Bowling for Columbine did it to the gun culture. Super Size Me did it to fast food. Now The God Who Wasn't There does it to religion. Holding modern Christianity up to a bright spotlight, this eye-opening documentary asks the questions few dare to ask. "Did Jesus even exist?" is just the beginning for The God Who Wasn't There. Your guide through the world of Christendom is former fundamentalist Brian Flemming, joined by such luminaries as Jesus Seminar fellow Robert M. Price, author Sam Harris and historian Richard Carrier. In addition to the film, which won the Best Documentary award at the 2005 Grassroots Cinema Film Festival, this feature-packed DVD includes: -Special commentary tracks with Richard Dawkins and Earl Doherty -Over one hour of compelling additional interview footage -An in-depth Web-enabled slide show -Music from the soundtrack -Bios of all participants This provocative DVD takes off the gloves and gives religion an unprecedented, no-holds-barred examination. So hold on to your faith. It's in for a bumpy ride.

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Contact (Snap Case) (1997) Review

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(More customer reviews)In 1985, Pulitzer-prize winning author and astronomer Carl Sagan (1934-1996) wrote a brilliant "what-if" scenario in his novel entitled "Contact". In the novel, Carl Sagan created a scenario in which his protagonist, a radio astronomer named Dr. Eleanor Ann 'Ellie' Arroway, discovers an extraterrestrial radio transmission that is clearly from an intelligent alien source. The discovery causes intense debate between the proponents of science, religion and government that eventually leads to some very compelling questions on the nature of faith itself. In 1997, the novel was transformed into a film of the same name under the direction of the well-known director Robert Zemeckis, who had previously directed "Forrest Gump" (1994, for which Zemeckis won the Oscar for Best Director), "Death Becomes Her" (1992), "Back to the Future" (1985) and "Romancing the Stone" (1984).
Carl Sagan, with assistance from writers Ann Druyan, James V. Hart and Michael Goldenberg, slightly modified the original story by giving Dr. Arroway (played by Jodie Foster) a more personal adversary in another astronomer, Dr. David Drumlin (played by Tom Skerritt). At the beginning of the film, a brief exploration of Dr. Arroway's childhood (played by Jena Malone) is provided that helps to establish her purely scientific perception of reality that resulted in part from the passing away of her father, Ted Arroway (David Morse), who had also encouraged her love of science, astronomy and radio communications. As an astronomer, Dr. Arroway dedicated her work to the SETI project (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence), which Dr. Drumlin considers frivolous and potentially damaging to Dr. Arroway's credibility. With her governmental funding cut, Dr. Arroway eventually gets private funding after she approaches one of the world's richest and most influential men, S. R. Hadden (John Hurt). With funding secured, Dr. Arroway's search continues at the Very Large Array (VLA) near Socorro, New Mexico. With her unorthodox method of personally listening to outer space static, Dr. Arroway suddenly and unexpectedly hears a bizarre set of sounds. She immediately gets her team, which includes Kent Clark (William Fichtner), busy working on analyzing the signal, which likely comes from an extraterrestrial source. Once verified, she announces her discovery to the world via the news media, to the disdain of governmental officials including Dr. Drumlin, National Security Advisor Michael Kitz (James Woods) and then President Bill Clinton (himself via archive footage). It also gains explosive response from very religious individuals who don't necessarily share Dr. Arroway's enthusiasm, except for Father Palmer Joss (Matthew McConaughey), whom Dr. Arroway met in Puerto Rico in a more than casual sense. The content of the message itself raises some very large questions.
What really brought Carl Sagan's vision to life in "Contact" was placing it within a contemporary timeframe. This included the use of many real events, people and places that included CNN, the VLA, the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico and many cameos from current politicians the television personalities (Jay Leno, Larry King, Geraldine A. Ferraro, Geraldo Rivera to name only a few). Also, Robert Zemeckis placed actors within archival footage in much the same way as he did with the film "Forrest Gump" in 1994. All of this, as well as superb acting from the principal actors (Jodie Foster, Tom Skerrit, Matthew McConaughey, John Hurt, William Fichtner and James Woods), great cinematography, wonderful sets and great special effects make this a brilliant film. Other memorable characters include Rachel Constantine (Angela Bassett), Richard Rank (Rob Lowe), the NASA Mission Director (Tucker Smallwood) and Joseph (Jake Busey). Some of the most memorable scenes in the film include Dr. Arroway hearing the message at the VLA, the public response, the political discussions, Dr. Arroway meeting S.R. Hadden, the machine, Dr. Arroway's relationship with Palmer, the pinnacle event and its aftermath.
Overall, I rate "Contact" with a resounding 5 out of 5 stars. In my opinion, it portrays many very probable debates and reactions if astronomers ever actually do discover intelligent extraterrestrial communication signals. I applaud Carl Sagan for his vision, as well as Robert Zemeckis and the many actors and other people involved with the making of this very engaging and compelling film.

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After an astronomer discovers communication emanating from the star Vega, she leads an international team in deciphering it, and travels through space to contact the senders of the message.Genre: Feature Film-DramaRating: PGRelease Date: 3-FEB-2004Media Type: DVD

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Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1972) Review

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(More customer reviews)I am a member of the Franciscan Third Order and fell in love with this movie back when I was only 13. (I'm now 34) This movie is definitely a product of the 60's - but the message is timeless. I feel badly that the review by Amazon was so discouraging. I would not want anyone to read that and make a judgement.
The movie represents, in my opinion, the true beauty of the Franciscan charism. The joy, simplicity and love that our Saint Francis embodied. I felt that Mr. Faulkner was an EXCELLENT choice for the lead role - he couldn't have been any closer to what I imagine Francis being. The director, Franco Zeffirelli, has done notable films ("Endless Love" NOT among his best). If you are a fan of the famous "Jesus of Nazareth", then I would suggest viewing this. In any case, this is a wonderful little film to get you acquainted with this timeless saint.
One bit of trivia - Sir Alec Guinness wanted to play the part of the Pope - as he had just converted to Catholicism not long before the making of this film. :-)
Hope this rudimentary review helped!

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A MEDIEVAL ITALIAN WASTREL BECOMES FRANCIS OF ASSISI, FOUNDER OF AN ORDER UNDER POPE INNOCENT III.

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Valhalla Rising (2010) Review

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(More customer reviews)A peculiar though fascinating art house excursion, the 2009 film "Valhalla Rising" is a symbolic viking adventure about the discovery of the new world. To understand this film's aura, it should be noted it makes Terrence Malick's similarly-themed The New World feel like a summer blockbuster romp. Danish writer/director Nicolas Winding Refn has carved a bold name for himself with such challenging works as Pusher Trilogy and Bronson (Widescreen Edition), and this expedition into the muddy and bloody age of 1000 AD continues his refusal of convention.
There is nothing pleasant about Refn's nightmarish world (filmed on location in Scotland) where men wear sodden rags, tromp through mud and wage wet battles to the death. An oppressive fog covers all, and scarred men stare quietly into space desperately searching for definition. Small campfires provide little warmth, and what few women are seen are naked and chained together as slaves. Harsh does not begin to scratch the surface of Refn's haunting imagery (aided by Morten Søborg's brilliant cinematography and a fascinating musical score of Peter Kyed and Peter Peter). Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen displays unique presence as a one-eyed viking, appropriately named One Eye. He's evidently a captive, residing in a wooden cage and carefully fed like a lion by the orphaned blond boy Are (Maarten Stevenson). On a regular basis, he's dragged from his prison, chained to a post and forced to fight to the death versus combatants while weary warlords sit nearby and wager the outcome. There are no cheers for his victories, punctuated by the sounds of crushed skulls and broken bones.
One Eye eventually kills his captors and, with the boy gingerly trailing, silently travels cross country where they encounter a meager band of warriors who have converted to Christianity. They are preparing for a Crusade to Jerusalem, and reluctantly recruit One Eye, whose warrior legend precedes him. Soon, trapped on a meager long ship within a mysterious mist, they become hopelessly lost and depressed. The mists finally part, and before them is the ominous but sunny, tree-covered land of the new world. Quietly hiking through tall grasses, they encounter signs of Native Americans, including burial scaffolds and ghost-like arrows thumping into the bodies of unlucky comrades. These desperate vikings plant a tall, wooden cross in the virgin soil, utterly convinced they've arrived in Hell. Through it all, One Eye, with his boy sidekick in tow, silently leads the way through this mysterious world, disturbing even to him.
"Valhalla Rising" includes multiple dream sequences drenched in red, long continuous shots of wind-blown landscapes and ultimately, scenes of men sitting on rocks for minutes at a time staring into the void of quiet space. These are not spirited warriors by any stretch of the imagination, but terrified souls lost within the tides of worlds far more powerful than their swords. "Valhalla Rising" is a vision quest gone mad, completely lacking in the romantic conventions one expects from this period. Think The Vikings, or to a far lessor extent Pathfinder and the all-but-forgotten Lee Majors' B-flick The Norseman, where lusty vikings fight slow-motion battle sequences against tribes of fierce Native Americans. You'll get none of that here.
There are multiple inspirations Refn appears to be channeling, including Roman Polanski's Macbeth, the already-mentioned Malick, Werner Herzog's Aguirre, the Wrath of God and, perhaps most apparent of all, the experimental works of Kenneth Anger (The Films of Kenneth Anger, Vol. 2) including his famous film Lucifer Rising [VHS].
I have always respected Anger's purposefully obscure films, where story is sacrificed for experimental, dream-like imagery. This is the true promised land of Refin's brutal journey. With a larger budget, he's taken Anger a step further, though fueled by equally potent doses of LSD. The minimum amount of dialog, usually raising more questions than answering, further carves a moody land of mystery and death. Insisting upon multiple interpretations, "Valhalla Rising" is an example of an incredibly gifted filmmaker reworking the tired conventions of period adventure, cutting through the surface, and pulling out the bloody results beneath.

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Acclaimed Danish director Nicholas Winding Refn follows his worldwide smash Pusher trilogy and the widely praised Bronson with his most daring film yet. Valhalla Rising is a brutally beautiful Viking film with international star Mads Mikkelsen ( Casino Royale, Clash Of The Titans ) as One Eye, a chained prisoner forced to fight to the death for the entertainment of his captors. When One Eye escapes, he stumbles upon a group of warriors headed to the Crusades. But fate has something else in store, as the men drift into the New World, where savages stalk them one by one in increasingly violent ways. Is One Eye an avenging angel or just the guiltiest of them all? The answers can be found in this ruthless, hallucinatory, one of a kind journey.

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Religulous (2008) Review

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(More customer reviews)You don't have to pass an IQ test to be in the Senate.
If you build a diorama with animatronic dinosaurs and children coexisting, it must be true.
Dialing a phone on Sabbath is forbidden, dialing a phone with a stylus on Sabbath is allowed.
You will learn all this and more from Bill Maher's hilarious mockumentary, Religulous.
It is not often that a movie is so subversive, funny and educational all at once. Bill Maher certainly has his fair share of ego, but he has the comic chops to support it. In some of his interviews I wish he had gone further, but to do that he would have to have been more serious, less funny and ultimately have made a different movie.
But the movie he makes is brilliant, it shines a spotlight on some of the serious questions and inconsitencies in religion that people allow themselves to ignore. And his ultimate message is one that everyone needs to hear; there are things in this world that are not explained, and that's OK! Not every gap in human knowledge is God-shaped. Doubt is good, doubt makes us ambitious and inquisitive and humble. And that's not a bad way to be.

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COMEDIAN & TV HOST BILL MAHER TAKES A PILGRIMAGE ACROSS THE GLOBE ON A MIND-OPENING JOURNEY INTO THE ULTIMATE TABOO: QUESTIONING RELIGION.

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Doubt (2008) Review

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(More customer reviews)At a Catholic school circa 1964, doubt has begun to enter a world of certainty. Times are changing and the Catholic Church is becoming more liberal. This sets the stage for a battle between principal Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep) and Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Sister Aloysius suspects Father Flynn of inappropriate behavior with a student (Joseph Foster II) on very circumstantial evidence and makes it her crusade to remove him from his position. As she says, she has no proof, but she has her certainty.
It is this certainty which seems to make her a monster, as she dismisses each bit of information or alternate interpretation of events that would cast doubt on her belief. But this would not be such a rich film if writer / director John Patrick Shanley had made it that simple. The viewer is never given satisfactory ground for completely siding with either the sister or the father. While it is very clear that Sister Aloysius is very rigid, cold, and judgmental, it is also possible that she is right. I admire the way Shanley encourages us to think about the issues raised and draw our own conclusions, which is why I was very disappointed in the final moments of this film, in which Shanley makes explicit a element of his theme that would have been better left understated, ending his script on a rather jarring note. Amy Adams, who plays the young sister caught in the middle of this battle, and Viola Davis, who plays the boy's mother, also deserve mention for their powerful performances.

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From Miramax Films comes one of the most honored and acclaimed motion pictures of the year, Doubt. Based on the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play, Doubt is a mesmerizing, suspense-filled drama with four riveting performances from Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis that will have you pinned to the edge of your seat. Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Streep), the rigid and fear-inspiring principal of the Saint Nicholas Church School, suffers an extreme dislike for the progressive and popular parish priest Father Flynn (Hoffman). Looking for wrongdoing in every corner, Sister Aloysius believes she's uncovered the ultimate sin when she hears Father Flynn has taken a special interest in a troubled boy. But without proof, the only thing certain is doubt."One of the best pictures of the year," (USA Today, Rolling Stone, New York Post, San Francisco Examiner, Roger Ebert).Bonus Features include From Stage To Screen, Scoring Doubt, The Sisters Of Charity

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The Nun's Story (1959) Review

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(More customer reviews)"The Nun's Story" is probably Audrey Hepburn's best film and by far the one which shows to best effect her enormous acting talent. It is the autobiographical tale of Sister Luke, a very young Belgian nun, who enters the convent at age 17 for specifically the wrong reason: her doctor father refuses to let her marry the young man she loves because there is insanity in his family background. She won't admit to him, as she is too young to admit it to herself, that her underlying reason in entering the convent was to spite her father, who believes women have a duty to marry and have children, but he is powerless to oppose her in this; he can prevent her from marrying her fiance, but who is he to defy God? Sister Luke, as played by Hepburn, wins us over instantly: she's generous, open-hearted, all or nothing, trying and failing and trying again, expecting too much of herself, wanting to fit in to the routine of her cloister, but feeling stifled by its constraints. The atmosphere of the convent is brought so vividly to life that we feel the conflicts pulling her in opposite directions: the peace and serenity that are embodied in the Reverend Mother Emmanuel (Edith Evans is so great in this role that she doesn't seem to be acting at all), and the incessant weight of seemingly arbitrary and nonsensical rules and regulations that attempt to crush all individuality and spontaneity. The pivotal conflict arises in the first half of the movie, when Sister Luke is asked by her Mother Superior to fail a qualifying examination for a nursing post in the Congo so that a less gifted nun can have her place, and Sister Luke has to make a choice: her failure will be a gift from God, but her success in the examination will win her a position in the Congolese hospital where her talents can be most fully utilized. And this is where Sister Luke has to face her inner dilemma: the convent, with all its rules and regulations, hasn't managed to crush her individuality -- she is too much her own person to let go of herself.
It is in the Congo that Sister Luke comes into her own. She falls in love with the country and its people as soon as she steps off the boat. She is sent to the European hospital to assist Dr. Fortunati, a brilliant, cynical surgeon who immediately sees through Sister Luke and understands her better than she understands herself. The meeting of minds between these two is awesome to watch and in itself makes the movie worth seeing. Dr. Fortunati, brilliantly played by Peter Finch, tells Sister Luke time and again that she will never be the kind of nun her convent expects her to be. The sexual tension between the two is evident but downplayed; Dr. Fortunati knows it's impossible and Sister Luke simply refuses to acknowledge it. The climax comes when Sister Luke is ordered back to the mother house in Belgium, and we suspect that Dr. Fortunati may have had a hand in it, to force her to face up to the fact that she is more nurse than nun.
The year is 1939 and World War II is about to begin. Sister Luke, chafing at the constraints of the mother house, is drawn into the war in ways her convent never imagined or would sanction. She assists a young lay nurse, who looks up to her as a role model, to work for the Resistance. She is glad when a German woman dies in the convent hospital. And she is finally forced to see inside herself and realize that while she may be able to accept chastity and poverty, obedience is impossible. At this point Sister Luke realizes she can no longer go on living a lie. The scenes in which her confessor and Reverend Mother Emmanuel attempt to dissuade her from leaving the convent are the most powerful in the film. "You joined the convent to be a nun, not a nurse", remonstrates Reverend Mother. But this is precisely where she's wrong; Sister Luke is much more a nurse than she will ever be a nun. After 17 years at war with herself, Sister Luke signs the papers severing her from her convent, and goes out into the world.
Hepburn's performance in a role which demands so much from her is incredible; we not only feel but share all her conflict and inner pain. There is no way she could come across as a plain, mousy nun (Hepburn would be drop-dead beautiful even in a burlap sack) but her acting is so convincing that we forget she is the gorgeous Audrey Hepburn and see her only as a soul in torment. Peter Finch is excellent as Dr. Fortunati and all of the minor characters are very well portrayed, but the real soul of the movie is Edith Evans as Reverend Mother Emmanuel, concerned with the spiritual health of her flock, and despairing yet fatalistic as one of her flock inexorably slips away. The movie is long (two and a half hours) but it's never boring; it grabs our interest from the opening frame and holds it to the final frame in which Hepburn turns a corner out of the convent grounds and out of our sight. The one jarring note, especially after 40 years, is the patronizing paternalism of the Belgian colonization in the Congo; except for the education and medical care provided by the Church, the cruelty of Belgian colonial occupation was legendary and makes us wonder what Sister Luke's fate would have been if she had returned to the Congo after she left the convent. At the end of the film we are left with great respect and admiration for an incredibly strong yet fallible young woman whose journey to self-knowledge is a life-long project.

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Story of Gabrielle Van Der Mal, who gives up everything to become a nun, facing incredible odds in the Congo and then at the mother house in France at the outbreak of World War II.

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