1959 – The Nun’s Story

The Nun’s Story – 1959

For some reason, I was not really expecting to like this movie.  I went into it thinking that it was about a nun so good and pious that she would put Mother Theresa to shame.  She would travel to a foreign country and perform miracles of kindness and love.  She would face insurmountable odds and triumph because of her remarkable faith.  This might sound backwards, but I’m happy to report that I couldn’t have been more wrong.  This was an excellent film.

Audrey Hepburn starred as Gabrielle Van Der Mal, otherwise known as Sister Mary Luke.  As it turns out, the film was about the strict and rigorous training that young women wishing to become Catholic nuns must go through.  That alone took up the first half of the film.  The second half was devoted to what they are required to do, the sacrifices they must make, and the internal struggles they wrestle with once they become nuns.

I found the first half to be fascinating.  It was like an in-depth look into a world I knew very little about.  The subject was handled so well that my respect for the religious order has increased immensely, because not only did the film show what the process is and what trials and tests the prospective nuns are expected to perform, it was very clear about the reasons that governed everything they did.

The film made everything seem high and noble, though not for the faint hearted.  It portrayed something more than just mere commitment to the beliefs and ideals of the church.  It showed devotion, understanding, and supreme faith.  It was done respectfully and with great reverence for the women who choose the life of servitude to their Lord.

Hepburn once said that of all the films she ever made, this was one of her favorites.  It isn’t very hard to see why.  It was grand and inspiring, and yet at the same time it was all too human and realistic.  It showed that nuns in authority, Mother Superiors in different convents or orders, do not always make the right decisions.  It showed that once a woman becomes a nun, the struggles of faith and conscious do not end.

This is made all too evident by the unexpected ending.  The second half of the movie told the story of how Sister Luke became a surgical nurse, being sent to the Congo to assist Dr. Fortunati, played by Peter Finch.  He is a surgeon who has a habit of working his assistants hard, sometimes to the point of exhaustion, expecting them to give nothing less than their best.

Sister Luke loves her assignment in the Congo, despite rigorous conditions, natives who are not Christians, and threats of tuberculosis and leprosy.  The scene in which a native murders a nun because a Witch Doctor ordered him to, was actually a bit horrifying to watch.  However, Sister Luke is eventually sent back to Belgium, and is there when WWII breaks out.  While there, she learns that her father has been killed by the Nazis.

This proves to be too much for her faith.  A nun’s objective it to love all and forgive all, but she finds she cannot forgive the German soldiers for her father’s death.  And this is what was so unexpected, and yet all too realistic about the ending.  Despite the fact that she has become a wonderful and well respected nun, has gone through tremendous hardship and monumental internal conflict, she quits!  She cannot get past her hate for the Nazis, and so feels like a hypocrite to her holy vows.  She is granted a dispensation from those vows, and leaves the church quietly.  Usually, in movies of this kind, the hero triumphs over all adversity, overcomes any struggle, and proves to have a strong enough will and unbreakable determination than will surpass any conflict.  But Sister Luke fails.  She fails!  Hepburn’s performance was incredibly good, a fact that was never better illustrated than in this final scene.

And just as a side note: In my research, I found that critics of the film complained about the sexual tension between Sister Luke and Dr. Fortunati because it was not present in the book upon which the film is based.  I disagree.  The sexual tension portrayed in the film was barely perceptible and Sister Luke rebuffed it completely and without regret, just as the virtuous character should have.