Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Peter Finch, Edith Evans, Peggy Ashcroft, Dean Jagger Directed By: Fred Zinnemann Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: DVD Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Warner Home Video Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: April 04, 2006 Running Time: 152 minutes Theatrical Release Date: July 18, 1959
Product Description: Story of Gabrielle Van Der Mal who gives up everything to become a nun facing incredible odds in the Congo and then at the mother house in France at the outbreak of World War II.Running Time: 151 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 012569739864 Manufacturer No: 73986
Amazon.com essential video: Fred Zinnemann's epic drama is a splendid showcase for Audrey Hepburn, who stars as the young nun Sister Luke, who is deeply spiritual yet conflicted about whether or not she can conform to convent life. Though the film is a mesmerizing--and quite leisurely--two and a half hours, its plot is fairly simple--young Gabrielle (Hepburn) enters the convent pledging her life to God, learns the disciplines associated with the life, receives her dream assignment of going to the Congo as a missionary nurse, and once there, is forced to face whether she is meant for the rigorous life of poverty, chastity, and most difficult of all, obedience. The film does a marvelous job of portraying the challenges of cloistered life without being either off-putting or overly romantic. And Hepburn, sometimes with only her eyes, communicates all the drive, faith, and conflict of a young woman so torn. --Anne Hurley
The Nun's Story This is one of my all-time favorite movies of Audrey Hepburn. I have the VHS and wore it out. I was very glad to see it released on DVD. So many of my favorite classic movies are not released on DVD. The Nun's Story is an enthralling story of a young idealistic young woman who was brilliant in medicine thanks to the tutelage of her doctor father. Upon learning that the man she loves carries genes that will pass on severe mental disabilities, they decided that it wouldn't be right to marry. Gabrielle decides that since her life in the world was essentially over, the convent would be her best option. She works hard to become the perfect nun. Along with all the spiritual struggles she went thru, she was also able to obtain degrees in tropical medicine (the first step towards service in the Congo) to one in psychiatry. Sister Luke's spiritual troubles make you want to reach out and hug her, to let her know that she wasn't a bad nun and an excellent nurse. It was obvious that she would have made a cracker jack doctor herself if the conventions of the time would have allowed her to attend medical school. Even tho this movie has religious overtones, it was, nevertheless a fantastic movie and the scenes that were shot on site in the Belgium and the Congo were breathtaking. I adored the author of the book, Kathrine Hulme for many many years. I first read the book in 10th grade and loved it. I have a very dog-eared paperback copy that has been well loved. Only with the advent of used book merchants was I actually able to obtain a hard cover copy of the book. If you like Audrey Hepburn, you'll love her in this. Along with Audrey Hepburn, the picture had a load of top notch stars. If you don't mind the religious overtones, the movie is an excellent one to watch and the book is even better.
Obedience to rules and regulations This old film is well done and offers an interesting look inside the walls of a Roman Catholic cloister in Belgium, and then at the missionary field of Africa. But it also provides the same message as the Bible's Old Testament, that strict obedience to an exacting set of rules and regulations is impossible. One ends up doing as is implied in this film--they either cheat or they leave.
One of Audrey's Best The only reason I didn't give this movie five stars is because the beginning of it DRAGS so badly. Be patient, it gets much better, and the choice of Audrey Hepburn, with her expressive eyes, was perfect.
It's the kind of movie that you will talk about and discuss with others who have seen it afterward, and that always makes me feel that I have seen a superior movie.
LIVING THE CRUCIFIED LIFE There are very few movies (or books) available to the true Christian believer that demonstrate the life of taking up your cross and following Christ daily. Of dying to self - so that it is no longer about you but only Christ. THIS IS ONE OF THOSE MOVIES that will be of benefit to you if you long to submit to Him - NOT THE RITUALS, NOT RELIGION - but the life that is no longer YOU - the death of YOU, of self, of vanity, of pride - of coming out from among the world and being separate. And even though the main character struggles with obedience, there is a deeper depth (for truly she is rejecting RELIGION AND RITUALS and NOT CHRIST). It is also a powerful testimony of living your life for Him no matter what - including disappointment; of finding that what HE CHOOSES is best and not that which we could ever dream up for ourselves. A MUST SEE MOVIE. WELL DONE. You won't be disappointed if you truly long for Christ, to live in His perfect will.
Spiritual Crisis in the Colonies This is a real sleeper. Fascinating for its 1959 sensibilities with regard to the white man's burden, its depiction of "the natives," the joys of being colonized by Belgium. In fairness, it is also a fascinating psychological portrait of a woman torn between spirituality and the worlds of science and politics. Hepburn at her best. This is no Deborah Kerr on the beach potboiler. Really rather unforgettable.
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