Fresh and Exciting

Best movie ever!

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Around 1930 in Belgium, Gabrielle Van Der Mal (Audrey Hepburn) leaves her wealthy family to join the convent. Her surgeon father tries to dissuade her but she aims to be a healer in the Congo. She is given the name Sister Luke as she faces the challenges of her faith in the real world. Her nemesis is her pride. First, she's denied the Congo but eventually, she is assigned there to work under Dr. Fortunati (Peter Finch).Based upon the life of Marie Louise Habets, it was nominated for 8 Oscars winning none. It is certainly detailed in its portrayal of a nun's life. It's the film debut of Colleen Dewhurst in a minor role. Each part is interesting but the movie needs a driving force through the entire story. That is supposed to be her pride but it comes and goes at times. That idea needs some repetitive clarity as a lens to focus her character development. It is sometimes colored with a suggested love story with Fortunati. Her obsession with the Congo needs to be given voice. It would be great if she actually says out loud that she is better than the other nuns. Her struggles with her obedience is generally good. The most compelling scene is the leper colony with real lepers. The Nazi occupation could have been more dramatic although this movie treats it more as an interior struggle. It stops her story short. I understand the concept of stopping at that point but I need to see her life afterwards.

The Nun's Story (1959) I was most awed by this underrated, superbly well done film. Not that I am surprised by the mixed reviews. Watching the final scene, all I could say was, "Thank God." I was becoming increasingly frustrated watching all the Mothers guilt tripping and manipulating her into staying so they could utilize her medical expertise when it was clear that she wanted to leave; that her struggles to "obey" from day one proved she did not have a personality naturally fit for a nun. That frustration was replaced by sadness when she finally removed her habit and saw how old she had become. I have no doubt that this was not from age but from the mental toll of having to struggle daily with her desire to be the best nurse she could be and to provide get patients with the best care she could against what she thought was a desire to love and stay true to God. This would be better categorized as a dramatized documentary. It is based on a biography, after all. As with all documentaries, unless you are significantly interested in the topic, it might not be your viewing pleasure. I do feel that the best filmmakers can make any topic interesting, as evidenced by the fact that I am not a religious person in the least. Audrey's performance drew me in, though. And unlike most one-man or one-woman shows, other characters were still engaging. Not being a religious person or highly interested in it, I was not completely wowed by this film. But was I or has I been, this could easily be in my favorites inventory. This should be watched for Audrey's performance alone, but also for its educative value of the process of becoming and living as a nun and the little everyday details involved in, well, A Nun's Story! #FilmReview

Directed by Fred Zinnemann, "The Nun's Story" is a beautifully realized film about a young woman who makes the difficult commitment to become a nun in 1930 Belgium.Hepburn is Gabrielle, whose father (Dean Jagger) is a well-known surgeon. Gabrielle herself is brilliant in the field of science, and her father has a difficult time with her decision to join a nun's order. But Gabrielle wants to serve God, and she wants to do missionary work in the Congo.It's a tough life. One is not allowed to reminisce, as you must wipe your family from your memory; you must give up personal items; there are great silences imposed; you can never ask for anything but must anticipate your fellow nun's needs. And one must never fall victim to the sin of pride.Gabrielle eventually gets to go to the Congo, where she runs into Dr. Fortunati (Peter Finch) who falls for her. When an important case needs escort back to Belgium, Gabby must leave. Then the war intervenes. Gabrielle, meanwhile, wants to go back to the Congo.It's a formidable cast: Dame Edith Evans, Dame Peggy Ashcroft, Patricia Collinge, Colleen Dewhurst, Lionel Jeffries, and Barbara O'Neil. Hepburn paints a beautiful portrait of Gabrielle, a lovely, brilliant, willful and determined woman. Finch is rugged and hunky - it's no wonder Vivien Leigh tried to run away with him. Dewhurst has a very showy role as "Archangel" in a mental institution. The nuns are all excellent.A truly stunning film about a smart, resourceful woman attempting to do God's will as she sees it, but it means stripping away everything that makes her the person that she is.The last ten minutes of this film will stay with you a long time; it is very powerful. A compelling story.

In 1930, in Belgium, Gabrielle van der Mal (Audrey Hepburn) is the stubborn daughter of the prominent surgeon Dr. Pascin Van Der Mal (Dean Jagger) that decides to leave her the upper-class family to enter to a convent, expecting to work in Congo with tropical diseases. She says good-bye to her sisters Louise and Marie; to her brother Pierre; and to her beloved father, and subjects herself to the stringent rules of the retrograde institution, including interior silent and excessive humbleness and humiliation. After a long period working in a mental institution, Gaby is finally assigned to go to Congo, where she works with the Atheist and cynical, but brilliant, Dr. Fortunati (Peter Finch). Sister Luke proves to be very efficient nurse and assistant, and Dr. Fortunati miraculous heals her tuberculosis. Years later, she is ordered to return to Belgium and when her motherland is invaded by the Germans, she learns that her beloved father was murdered by the enemy while he was helping wounded members of the resistance. Sister Luke finally decides to leave the religious life since she is not able to feel neutral against the invaders of her country. "The Nun's Story" is a great film that tells the story of a young woman that decides to enter in a convent accepting all sort of humiliation in the retrograde institution. It is impressive the non-sense attitudes that the novice is submitted, including self-infliction of whipping, absurd silence, fail in an examination and be repressed for an excel work in the hypocrite name of humbleness. This is not vocation but abnormal brainwash of sick persons in the name of the faith. Audrey Hepburn is magnificent, as usual, and this film was nominated to 8 Oscars, 13 wins and 12 other nominations. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Uma Cruz à Beira do Abismo" ("A Cross in the Edge of the Abyss")