Brides of Christ

Amazon.com

Brides of Christ sounds like a modest miniseries about the lives of nuns in an Australian convent and girls' school in the 1960s. But within that simple summary are astonishing stories, both in the rich personal lives of the nuns and the cultural shifts at work as the Catholic Church struggled to bring itself into the modern age. Over six hourlong episodes, Brides of Christ focuses on six women: Sister Ambrose (Sandy Gore), the Mother Superior of Santo Spirito, whose gentle leadership goes astray when the school hires a male teacher; Sister Agnes (Brenda Fricker, My Left Foot), a conservative nun who resists the modernizing changes dictated by the Vatican; Sister Paul (Lisa Hensley), an uncomplicated but devoted young nun who leaves the sisterhood when she falls in love; Frances (a young Naomi Watts, Mulholland Drive, 21 Grams), a student whose parents are undergoing divorce; Rosemary (Kym Wilson), a rebellious girl who fights against the sexual repression of the church; and woven through it all, Sister Catherine (Josephine Byrnes), an independent-thinking nun whose craving for reform puts her at odds with her superiors.

Brides of Christ balances respect and empathy with a critical social perspective, always channeled through these superbly realized women. The smart and deeply felt scripts are given dynamic life by uniformly beautiful performances (also appearing is a pre-stardom Russell Crowe). An absolutely fantastic miniseries that can't be recommended strongly enough. --Bret Fetzer

Description

Inside the convent walls of Santo Spirito, six remarkable women find themselves caught between centuries old tradition and the radical social changes reshaping the secular world in the 1960s. Bound by their vows, these "Brides of Christ" struggle to confront questions they cannot answer, disciplines they refuse to follow and love they dare not feel. Entrusted to their care are spirited teenagers, schooled in the doctrines of the church, but eager to taste the newfound freedoms of their generation.

Winner of four Australian Film Institute Awards including Best Mini-Series and Best Television Actress (Lisa Hensley), Brides of Christ stars Academy Award® winner Brenda Fricker (My Left Foot) and features breakthrough performances from Academy Award® nominee Naomi Watts (21 Grams) and Academy Award® winner Russell Crowe (Gladiator).

Customer Reviews:

Outstanding dramatic portrayal of conflicts in religious life.......2007-08-21

The brilliance of this series, where conflicts within the Roman Catholic religious life are treated through incidents in the lives of Sisters and students, may not be captured by all at first glance. The obvious (and superbly handled) theme is adjusting to drastic changes in monastic and Church life. Yet there is a greater depth still in less glaring themes, which mirrored what many Sisters faced.

The community of Spirito Santo is depicted as quite exceptional, with a high intellectual standard and, even in the days before the 'old ways' are abandoned, a degree of warmth and interaction between most Sisters which is beyond what some communities would have experienced. Various Sisters illustrate shortcomings (which one can see only in hindsight) which had drastic implications for the Church at large, not only the religious life (which too often was in its dying days.) For example, the wise, truly caring Mother Ambrose, who at first seems to wish to involve the viewpoints of all Sisters in community decisions, illustrates a very common response of the time - valuing 'unity' (such as that shown in forcing all Sisters into the modified habit) at all costs. It may not be obvious to those who did not have close associations with religious Orders, but, during the period, far more drastic, sometimes devastating, 'options' than a modified garb became permissible, then an unwritten rule, in the name of the 'ways of the community.'

Diane/Sister Catherine is an interesting, if exasperating, character, because, initially, it is to the congregation's credit that one who questioned constantly, often in a superior, smug, and self absorbed fashion, was not dismissed for a lack of 'obedience.' One would wonder why someone of her sort entered religious life in the first place, though there is a strong hint that she overestimates her own intellectual gifts and thinks herself to be quite a prize. Catherine's overall story points out traps into which many Sisters fell.

For example, much of the conflict surrounding Humanae Vitae (the topic of one episode), which was stirred by celibates, arose from anger that the pope's statement was against the recommendations of his committee - the Religious protested more because of collegiality or a sense of 'democracy', where the married (who did not depart in droves, even if they did not obey the directives) largely were not concerned with such consultations. Catherine's ire is not only directed at Rome, but at married people who don't 'take her side up on' the prohibition on birth control. She is too blinded by her own agenda to see the implicit condescension, nor, for all her academic intelligence, does she have the minimal wordly wisdom which would have prevented her from commenting on, let alone interfering in, anything as private as a couple's marital practise.

Another solid image is how many Sisters, looking to show acceptance and dispel a supposed image of their being inapproachable and rigid (though most Spirito Santo Sisters, from the first frame of the film, are anything but), ignored prudence. It is perfectly understandable when student Frances is sent to attend her mother's registry office wedding - yet neither Sisters Catherine nor Paul can see that their attending, then dancing the twist in long habits at the reception, could make them seem vaguely pathetic (look at the queens of cool...), as well as be taken for a protest against teachings of the Church which they represent. The mothers at the school, who avoid Frances' mother, indeed seem hard and uncharitable, but the dimension that is not presented (and which Sisters well might forget, because their desire to seem tolerant could cause tunnel vision) is that parents may not wish their children to see a fuss over one who, to their minds, departed from the commitment of sacramental marriage.

Sister Paul's story was especially insightful. Non-Catholics, or Catholics who were not that aware of matters theological at the time, can miss that this is not merely a tale of a young woman who suddenly is questioning whether her decision to enter a convent should be permanent. In the aftermath of Gaudium et Spes, a document which presented a far from new idea about the 'universal call to holiness,' too many religious minimised the value of their own lives, seeing the 'only call as baptism.' Sister Paul is a delightful young teacher, who seems perfectly happy in convent life, but who is not only dealing with her first strong attraction to a man (whom she cannot see does not return her love, but is using her to 'get back at' the Church as he departs the priesthood in bitterness) but with the sudden new idea that there is no real value in religious life, sees only that she'd serve God just as well as a wife and mother. Ambrose's comment captures a great deal of a situation which many Sisters of sanguine disposition faced: Paul entered at 19 more because it was 'what everyone expected,' and 'never really made a decision in her life.' Her ultimate decision is to remain a religious, but she did not see that she had not developed maturity until confronted with the conflict.

The single deficiency in the presentation was that Sisters who are of more conservative bent are shown as being so because of defects of character rather than conviction. This was a very common idea in religious life at that time - and indeed a manipulative tactic to push conformity. (For example, Sisters who preferred to retain religious garb were convinced that they must want to keep people at a distance - those who wished common prayer schedules were written off as immature.) Though Sister Agnes is an intelligent, learned woman, she is of a very trying, domineering personality, and it seems implicit that her desire for the 'old ways' is based on her difficulty in dealing with others. I was sorry that there was no episode from her point of view. The other 'conservative' Sister who is any major emphasis is pathetic - an emotional wreck who breaks down before the community, sobbing that she wants to be told what to do and does not want to make her own decisions, and then makes a suicide attempt. One could come away from a series which otherwise is notably frank and realistic with the impression that more conservative Sisters were either dreadful personalities or mentally ill.

Of course, there is an element of pathos in the final product as well. The efforts of the Sisters at the time are understandable - seeking to adapt and have a fresh spirit, and to become more available to those whom they served. As time has shown, the very climate of 'options', supposed democracy and dialogue which cut out voices which did not fit the party line and thought such voices inferior, and the conformity, no less than that of the old ways even if it was called being 'community minded' rather than 'obedience,' sounded the death knoll for the positive religious life one sees in this film.

So real and honest........2007-08-10

I was in religious life and this series honestly reflects the joys and sorrows of religious life and the struggles many of the sisters endured during the 60's. I loved all the actresses. They seemed so real. It was so finely tuned and non-judgmental. I bought this film to loan it out to friends so they can understand me better. If that is possible?

More like Brides of Frankenstein.......2007-05-20

I was excited to watch this movie and thought, from the title, that it would be enjoyable. I couldn't have been more wrong. This was a horrible and innaccurate portrayal of religious life,and one thing is clear in the movie and that's the anti-Catholic bias of the movie makers. This movie was about as enjoyable as a root canal.
I hated this film and I urge everyone who might consider watching it to avoid it.

Realistic and Thought-Provoking.......2007-02-20

I really enjoyed this series. It was well written and well acted, but I especially appreciated the story lines for the different episodes. Each episode dealt with a very specific, very Catholic, very debatable topic, such as the Catholic stances on birth control and divorce and investigating the world of the convent and parochial school. The series faced each issue squarely and honestly, neither condemning nor simply excusing each practice. An excellent program.

Ch Ch Changes.......2006-09-04

I viewed all of the episodes one day last week when I was sick, and perhaps that dampened the mood of my opinion of the series. I read the other reviews and on most parts agree whole heartedly that the acting is top notch and the script an accurate portrayal of the crises that many monastics experienced in the time leading up to Vatican Two and especially thereafter regarding the meaning and substance of not only their personal vocation, but the value of the faith and Church at large. Brides of Christ also shows the Catholic societal milieu wherein the Church held an authority over the faithful somewhat unknown in our time.

OK, READ NO MORE IF YOU DO NOT WANT THE ENDING SPOILED.

My main qualm with the series centers around the way the writers portrayed the crises of faith for the cast. In general, and I think actually this applies to every case, those who remained faithful to the Church's teaching were portrayed as either naïve and simple minded or strict and rigid, unable to live in the "real world." I have the suspicion that this was part of the writers' agenda and bias, but who knows. Moreover, those who were portrayed positively in the film were the rebels who disobeyed the Church and were "with it," or simply those who wised up and threw off the habit or the novitiate. This is my only issue in an otherwise very entertaining series that I will watch again sometime (maybe when I am not ill).

One true point that the film made was how the legitimate and progressive interpretation of the spirit of V2 that sought to give personal choice was used by the liberals to, ironically, strictly enforce their own agenda to rid the Church of authority and traditionalism in most forms. It seems to this reviewer that this is one of the tendencies of reform movements is that they lose sight of their spirit and become just as tyrannical and despotic as their supposed oppressors, e.g. communism and most academia. I would argue that in truth the Orthodox and Catholic traditions are actually more tolerant and liberal than the liberals, but that's another story.

I know several nuns and ex-nuns from the era and they also watched it with similar feelings, even though one of them is of the liberal type to begin with and left about 15 years after V2. Yes, going from Latin to "Kumbaya Lord" was indeed a huge shift for them all, along with the forced decisions that some of the more "progressive" abbesses and bishops shoved down the pipe.

Brides of Christ (Convent Sisters Cover)

Average customer rating:

Outstanding dramatic portrayal of conflicts in religious life
So real and honest.
More like Brides of Frankenstein
Realistic and Thought-Provoking
Ch Ch Changes

Brides of Christ (Convent Sisters Cover)
Starring: Brenda Fricker , Sandy Gore , Josephine Byrnes , Lisa Hensley , and Simon Burke
Director: Ken Cameron (II)
Manufacturer: Lance Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Religion | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Miniseries | Television | Genres | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B00015YV4U
Release Date: 2004-03-16

Amazon.com

Description

Inside the convent walls of Santo Spirito, six remarkable women find themselves caught between centuries old tradition and the climactic social changes reshaping the secular world in the 1960s. Bound by their vows, these "Brides of Christ" struggle to confront questions they cannot answer, disciplines they refuse to follow and love they dare not feel. Entrusted to their care are spirited teenagers, schooled in the doctrines of the church, but eager to taste the newfound freedoms of their generation. Winner of 4 Australian Film Institute Awards including Best Mini-Series, Brides of Christ stars Academy Award® winner Brenda Fricker (My Left Foot) and features breakthrough performances from Naomi Watts (21 Grams) and Academy Award® winner Russell Crowe (Gladiator).

Customer Reviews:

Outstanding dramatic portrayal of conflicts in religious life.......2007-08-21

So real and honest........2007-08-10

More like Brides of Frankenstein.......2007-05-20

Realistic and Thought-Provoking.......2007-02-20

Ch Ch Changes.......2006-09-04

Average customer rating:

Outstanding dramatic portrayal of conflicts in religious life
So real and honest.
More like Brides of Frankenstein
Realistic and Thought-Provoking
Ch Ch Changes

Brides of Christ (Wedding Vow Cover)
Starring: Brenda Fricker , Sandy Gore , Josephine Byrnes , Lisa Hensley , and Simon Burke
Director: Ken Cameron (II)
Manufacturer: Lance Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Religion | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Miniseries | Television | Genres | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B0001EFUTQ
Release Date: 2004-03-16

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

Outstanding dramatic portrayal of conflicts in religious life.......2007-08-21

So real and honest........2007-08-10

More like Brides of Frankenstein.......2007-05-20

Realistic and Thought-Provoking.......2007-02-20

Ch Ch Changes.......2006-09-04

DVD:

DVD

DVD