Note: I originally wrote and posted this for The Awakening Project as part of their Interfaith Movie Reviews series. I thought it would be nice to share it on The Catholic Man Reviews this month – a great film to watch as summer slowly comes to an end.
A movie that I can watch many times without getting tired of it is The Nun’s Story, a 1959 film starring Audrey Hepburn and Peter Finch. At first glance at the title, The Nun’s Story, it may seem like a boring movie. I had those first thoughts when I watched the film for the first time with Vietnamese voiceovers. However, the more times I watch the movie, I am able to see a unique dimension of Christian religious life.
The movie is based on a novel by Kathryn Hulme. Both the book and the movie can achieve the very essence of what it means to be a religious sister. Some may have some pre-conceived perceptions of who nuns are. The secular media may not able to truly capture that. Though, The Nun’s Story is one of the films that seem to do so.
Jesus said, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Mt 16:24) While that verse applies to all Christians, this concept is even more applicable in religious life as a nun. While it may seem that Catholic nuns have it easy, The Nun’s Story shows that religious life is one of sacrifice and surrender to God, striving for a life of holiness. That is not easy and requires much discipline over a long period of time.
In The Nun’s Story, we have a young sister named Gabriele van der Mal who fulfills her desire to become a sister, not merely to serve God and God alone, but seemingly to serve her desire to serve in the Congo as a nurse. Unfortunately, her worldly desires causes her to struggle in living the holy rule and living a healthy spiritual life. From the beginning of the film, Gabriele fails to surrender everything and still holds on to worldly attachments. Gabriele throughout the various stages of her life fails to live up to humility. Instead, pride takes her on. She thought that becoming a nun and ultimately being sent to the Congo would relieve her of these faults and failings. Ironically, these activities makes evident the spiritual struggles she faces. When things do not go according to her desires, she feels a sense of disappointment and her own will continues to eat on her. She loved and favoured her career as a nurse than her religious life. Her life as a nun. Her failure to live up to a life of humility and obedience sank even deeper as she learned of her father being killed by the Nazi. Her hypocritical life and lack of peace in her conscience leads her ultimately to leave religious life at the end of the movie.
The movie shows that religious life is not for everyone. Christians are called ultimately to a life of holiness, humility and service – to imitate Jesus in all aspects of life. However, the other vocations (callings) in life such as married life, priesthood, or religious life are life-long vocations meant to serve God and his Church here on earth. While one can bluntly say, “I want to be _______,” in Christianity and Catholicism specifically requires one to be discerning, which ultimately means listening to the Holy Spirit for guidance because God has predestined a vocation for everyone and it is up to the discerner to listen through prayer and through the guidance of others who acts as God’s instruments.
However, in a broader context, the film points to the fact that one should not be attached to earthly or material things. While we all need money or a career to live on, those things will one day go. The most important thing we should carefully look at is whether we are using our gifts and talents in helping our brothers and sisters not for any gain but selflessly? For Gabriele, she pursued a life meant for service but used it to fulfill her own desires… she went out to help people to get something for herself. While we should have within ourselves a sense of peace and satisfaction when helping someone, those feelings should never trump us. We should not be overcome with pride but constantly maintaining humility or else we will crumble like Gabriele. Let us learn to be selfless, not counting the cost or expecting anything back when helping our brothers and sisters.
You can read the original novel here.
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