UNCONVENTIONAL<\/span>: I couldn\u2019t sleep after Black Caesar<\/span>, so I decided to just throw on The Nun\u2019s Story<\/span> and watch until I decided to go to bed. I ended up watching, totally engrossed, until the entire huge long movie was over.<\/p>\n Audrey Hepburn plays a Belgian girl who enters a religious order, hoping to be sent to the Congo as a nurse. The movie follows her deep spiritual struggles, mostly but not entirely revolving around questions of pride and obedience. The harshness of the religious regime under which she lives isn\u2019t prettified, but this story goes far beyond easy \u201cindividualism vs. repression\u201d conflicts. This comes out most clearly when World War II breaks out\u2013the nun\u2019s obedience is tested even more deeply, but at the same time she\u2019s also struggling with vengefulness and refusal to forgive her enemies.<\/p>\n The major flaw of the movie is that the racism of the Belgian Catholics isn\u2019t just portrayed, but basically embedded in the movie\u2019s narrative. The easiest example is the way in which all of the supporting characters are vivid and memorable except<\/span> the one Congolese character with a speaking role, who is a pious cartoon. But that example is just the most obvious sign of a problem which really runs throughout the Congo sequence, even though the culture of the people is presented with quite a bit of affection and some respect.<\/p>\n Hepburn is fantastic. Like I said, I\u2019d assumed that I would watch maybe an hour and then hit pause. I just couldn\u2019t. I couldn\u2019t stop watching her. Many of the supporting actors are as vivid as their characters, but this is really a one-woman show.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" UNCONVENTIONAL: I couldn\u2019t sleep after Black Caesar, so I decided to just throw on The Nun\u2019s Story and watch until I decided to go to bed. I ended up watching, totally engrossed, until the entire huge long movie was over. Audrey Hepburn plays a Belgian girl who enters a religious order, hoping to be sent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1071,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n