Rating: 
Summary: A soul torn in half
Review: "The Nun's Story" is probably Audrey Hepburn's best film and by far the one which shows to best effect her enormous acting talent. It is the autobiographical tale of Sister Luke, a very young Belgian nun, who enters the convent at age 17 for specifically the wrong reason: her doctor father refuses to let her marry the young man she loves because there is insanity in his family background. She won't admit to him, as she is too young to admit it to herself, that her underlying reason in entering the convent was to spite her father, who believes women have a duty to marry and have children, but he is powerless to oppose her in this; he can prevent her from marrying her fiance, but who is he to defy God? Sister Luke, as played by Hepburn, wins us over instantly: she's generous, open-hearted, all or nothing, trying and failing and trying again, expecting too much of herself, wanting to fit in to the routine of her cloister, but feeling stifled by its constraints. The atmosphere of the convent is brought so vividly to life that we feel the conflicts pulling her in opposite directions: the peace and serenity that are embodied in the Reverend Mother Emmanuel (Edith Evans is so great in this role that she doesn't seem to be acting at all), and the incessant weight of seemingly arbitrary and nonsensical rules and regulations that attempt to crush all individuality and spontaneity. The pivotal conflict arises in the first half of the movie, when Sister Luke is asked by her Mother Superior to fail a qualifying examination for a nursing post in the Congo so that a less gifted nun can have her place, and Sister Luke has to make a choice: her failure will be a gift from God, but her success in the examination will win her a position in the Congolese hospital where her talents can be most fully utilized. And this is where Sister Luke has to face her inner dilemma: the convent, with all its rules and regulations, hasn't managed to crush her individuality -- she is too much her own person to let go of herself. It is in the Congo that Sister Luke comes into her own. She falls in love with the country and its people as soon as she steps off the boat. She is sent to the European hospital to assist Dr. Fortunati, a brilliant, cynical surgeon who immediately sees through Sister Luke and understands her better than she understands herself. The meeting of minds between these two is awesome to watch and in itself makes the movie worth seeing. Dr. Fortunati, brilliantly played by Peter Finch, tells Sister Luke time and again that she will never be the kind of nun her convent expects her to be. The sexual tension between the two is evident but downplayed; Dr. Fortunati knows it's impossible and Sister Luke simply refuses to acknowledge it. The climax comes when Sister Luke is ordered back to the mother house in Belgium, and we suspect that Dr. Fortunati may have had a hand in it, to force her to face up to the fact that she is more nurse than nun. The year is 1939 and World War II is about to begin. Sister Luke, chafing at the constraints of the mother house, is drawn into the war in ways her convent never imagined or would sanction. She assists a young lay nurse, who looks up to her as a role model, to work for the Resistance. She is glad when a German woman dies in the convent hospital. And she is finally forced to see inside herself and realize that while she may be able to accept chastity and poverty, obedience is impossible. At this point Sister Luke realizes she can no longer go on living a lie. The scenes in which her confessor and Reverend Mother Emmanuel attempt to dissuade her from leaving the convent are the most powerful in the film. "You joined the convent to be a nun, not a nurse", remonstrates Reverend Mother. But this is precisely where she's wrong; Sister Luke is much more a nurse than she will ever be a nun. After 17 years at war with herself, Sister Luke signs the papers severing her from her convent, and goes out into the world. Hepburn's performance in a role which demands so much from her is incredible; we not only feel but share all her conflict and inner pain. There is no way she could come across as a plain, mousy nun (Hepburn would be drop-dead beautiful even in a burlap sack) but her acting is so convincing that we forget she is the gorgeous Audrey Hepburn and see her only as a soul in torment. Peter Finch is excellent as Dr. Fortunati and all of the minor characters are very well portrayed, but the real soul of the movie is Edith Evans as Reverend Mother Emmanuel, concerned with the spiritual health of her flock, and despairing yet fatalistic as one of her flock inexorably slips away. The movie is long (two and a half hours) but it's never boring; it grabs our interest from the opening frame and holds it to the final frame in which Hepburn turns a corner out of the convent grounds and out of our sight. The one jarring note, especially after 40 years, is the patronizing paternalism of the Belgian colonization in the Congo; except for the education and medical care provided by the Church, the cruelty of Belgian colonial occupation was legendary and makes us wonder what Sister Luke's fate would have been if she had returned to the Congo after she left the convent. At the end of the film we are left with great respect and admiration for an incredibly strong yet fallible young woman whose journey to self-knowledge is a life-long project.
Rating:
Summary: Soul Food -- Make That A Soul Banquet
Review: "The Nun's Story" ranks with "Citizen Kane", "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre", and "Chinatown", as one of the very best films ever produced in Hollywood. Its director, Fred Zinnemann, has never received a fraction of the credit he deserves, for this and for other masterpieces of intelligent narrative filmmaking such as 1966's "A Man for All Seasons", perhaps because he serves his stories so well that Oscar Wilde's dictum -- that the aim of art is to reveal art and conceal the artist -- has been all too well fulfilled. What I truly love about the story of Sister Luke is that it is in no sense a polemic: it is possible to see that, for certain persons (such as the Reverend Mother, played to angelic perfection by Edith Evans), the "Holy Rule" can indeed be the way to a blissful sense of unity with the eternal, while for a creative and dynamic spirit like Sister Luke's, that same discipline can ultimately only stifle and defeat that which makes her fully human.The scene in which Sister Marcella urges her to fail her medical qualifying examinations deliberately, in order to combat her sense of intellectual pride, is one of the most exquisite moments in cinema -- there is no doubt that this is, in every sense, a monstrous demand, while there is also no doubt that the person suggesting it is doing it out of a genuine sense of concern for the young nun. (Where on earth is this type of mature moral complexity in today's movies?) The only aspect of the film that is likely to trouble intelligent viewers is the racial subtext of the Congo scenes. To hear adult Congolese men casually referred to as "boys" is cringe-inducing; and that the Catholic Church was perfectly willing to segregate blacks and whites in different hospitals (the one for the Congolese being of course vastly inferior in services and facilities)shows just how far we as a species have yet to go on the road to civilization. But this is a blemish on a large-souled and utterly transfixing work.The relationship between Sister Luke and Dr. Fortunati (the late Peter Finch in a flawless performance)is one that every aspiring filmmaker should be tied to a chair and forced to watch a dozen times, in order to see how real adults interact, when they have something more important (gasp!)than sex at the center of their concerns. Whatever one's own religious beliefs, or lack of them, this is the finest portrayal I know of on film of what it means to seek transcendence in life; and that is, for all decent persons, the Question of Questions. I cannot believe that any person who sees "The Nun's Story" will not feel that their own search for the lasting values in human existence has not been helped on its way by this beautiful film.
Rating: 
Summary: SISTER AUDREY
Review: At first,it seems it's gonna be an austere movie due to the theme(religious life in the thirties).But if you are patient,this story should win over because it's treatment is first rate.As usual,AUDREY is excellent as SISTER LUC who gradually after many experiences decides to quit religious life.PETER FINCH as a surgeon in CONGO has one of his best early role.Based on a true story,the film tells it's tale the way it must be tell,without fancy camera work.You should enjoy the second half best.It was AUDREY HEPBURN's second dramatic part after her bad experience in WAR AND PEACE.Even if times and religious life are not to be judged by today's standards,this film makes it clear that you enter this kind of life at the own expense of your true nature.Of great interest if you have someone in your family or a friend living this kind of experience.
Rating:
Summary: Young Nun Faces Obstacles to Holy Service
Review: Audrey Hepburn in the role of a young woman who decides that her life will be spent in service to God. The film shows the concern of family members, especially her wealthy father, who feels his daughter is depriving herself of a more fulfilling life. Never to have the joy of marriage, motherhood and any of the "finer things in life" are no match for the young woman's determination and devotion to God. -- The real "obstacles" are found in corrupt nuns who treat the new-comer unfairly, having decided before even giving her a chance, that things would not "work out". The ending is not much of a surprise, but the film is definitely worth it for the "nun's story" told inbetween beginning and end. This is a five-star cinema classic!*****
Rating:
Summary: An unusual Audrey Hepburn film.
Review: Audrey Hepburn is best known for her light romantic comedies. Everybody loves them. She dresses up in some Givenchy outfits and blows the audience away with her beauty and charm. In "The Nun's Story" she completly sheds that image and immerses herself in the role of the conflicted Sister Luke, a Belgian nun torn by her obligations to her church and order, her duty to her patients as a nurse, and her duty to her country during the Nazi occupation. This a long and very introspective film that is not for everyone. It contains a detailed look at life in a Belgian convent and a Congo hospital in the years before WWII which may bore some people. Also some of Audrey's fans looking for her as Princess Anne or Sabrina Fairchild or Holly Golightly may be disappointed to find only the determined, reserved, and prideful Sister Luke. (Although Audrey does make radiant looking nun.) The length, the slowly paced style, the subject matter, and the unusual role for its star have combined to keep it off the list of Audrey Hepburn's best known films. Personally, I think this Audrey's greatest dramatic performance and maybe her best performance ever. She very ably conveys Sister Luke's inner conflict between her oath as a nun and her duties as a nurse, daughter, and Belgian citizen. That she is able to do so in a film that has long stretches where there is no dialogue is remarkable. She was nominated for Best Actress for this role, and she more than deserved to win, but came up short. "The Nun's Story" illustrates that Audrey Hepburn certainly had the ability to flesh out dramatic characters and that she was more than just a charming and beautiful woman in a Givenchy outfit. She was a great actor as well.
Rating:
Summary: An unusual Audrey Hepburn film.
Review: Audrey Hepburn is best known for her light romantic comedies. Everybody loves them. She dresses up in some Givenchy outfits and blows the audience away with her beauty and charm. In "The Nun's Story" she completly sheds that image and immerses herself in the role of the conflicted Sister Luke, a Belgian nun torn by her obligations to her church and order, her duty to her patients as a nurse, and her duty to her country during the Nazi occupation. This a long and very introspective film that is not for everyone. It contains a detailed look at life in a Belgian convent and a Congo hospital in the years before WWII which may bore some people. Also some of Audrey's fans looking for her as Princess Anne or Sabrina Fairchild or Holly Golightly may be disappointed to find only the determined, reserved, and prideful Sister Luke. (Although Audrey does make radiant looking nun.) The length, the slowly paced style, the subject matter, and the unusual role for its star have combined to keep it off the list of Audrey Hepburn's best known films. Personally, I think this Audrey's greatest dramatic performance and maybe her best performance ever. She very ably conveys Sister Luke's inner conflict between her oath as a nun and her duties as a nurse, daughter, and Belgian citizen. That she is able to do so in a film that has long stretches where there is no dialogue is remarkable. She was nominated for Best Actress for this role, and she more than deserved to win, but came up short. "The Nun's Story" illustrates that Audrey Hepburn certainly had the ability to flesh out dramatic characters and that she was more than just a charming and beautiful woman in a Givenchy outfit. She was a great actor as well.
Rating:
Summary: AUDREY'S PERFORMANCE IS A MASTERPIECE
Review: Audrey Hepburn's performance in "The Nun's Story" is simply terrific! Her portrayal of Sister Luke exposes the struggles that a nun endures when she is totally dedicated to her religious life. Audrey shows how Sister Luke must come to a decision that no other nun would choose to make for herself. This is a must-see video for anyone who enjoys exceptional religious drama. Audrey Hepburn's grace and talent makes this movie a masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: AUDREY'S PERFORMANCE IS A MASTERPIECE
Review: Audrey Hepburn's performance in "The Nun's Story" is simply terrific! Her portrayal of Sister Luke exposes the struggles that a nun endures when she is totally dedicated to her religious life. Audrey shows how Sister Luke must come to a decision that no other nun would choose to make for herself. This is a must-see video for anyone who enjoys exceptional religious drama. Audrey Hepburn's grace and talent makes this movie a masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful well constructed movie
Review: Based on a true story, "The Nun's Story" is basically a movie about a young woman (Hepburn, as Sister Luke) who struggles with her decision to become a nun. The movie is set in the years prior to and during WWII, and it was made in 1959. Most of the movie takes place in Belgium, but about a fifth of the movie is set in the Belgian Congo (later Zaire, now Congo again), where Sister Luke is sent to work as a nurse in a hospital -- her desired assignment all along, but one that she had to wait for. There she works with a brillant but difficult doctor (Peter Finch) who has his own demons to battle. Their strained relationship is the emotional crux of the story. It is this portion of the movie that may be of interest to Africanists. The scenes set in Congo were filmed there, evidently in Kisangani. There is something of a documentary quality to much of this part of the film: Congolese people at work and play, life around a missionary hospital, colonial officials and uniformed native soldiers, colonial architecture, etc. It is really a sort of window on the past, and while the movie is not about the Belgian Congo, it does give a good idea of what part of the Belgian Congo looked like, and what life was like for the urban inhabitants in the Belgian Congo. As far as I know, this is the only movie you are likely to find in your local video store that has anything like that. Recommended for anyone interested in African history; and the part about the nun and the ex-pat doctor makes a pretty good movie.
Rating:
Summary: Woh G.I. Joe
Review: Here it is so open your eyes and pay attention: This movie is Money. Slow money like the kind you get for selling lemonade on the corner for 5 cents. Slow like Flo Jo runs in a marathon. I sugjest you drink a lot when you watch this movie. I did one time and it really braught it all together. like two storms that come together somewhere in middle america and causes a tornado all up in yah. Yeah this movie is hard to get into for sure. like getting into watching cricket on tv. I like the part when she's in the jungle, it really gives you a feel of what it must be like. Just like I did with your girlfriend last night. I think it's worth seeing at least once. Like it's worth seeing cry of the white wolf once. If your a hepburn fan like me than this movie should interest you. If not, than I wouldn't bother.
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