Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Real feeling about real life - the characters are human., May 3, 1999
Brides of Christ is one of the most exceptional dramas about "real life" in a convent that I have seen yet. It portrays "sisters" as real people who struggle with real issues from the teachings of the Catholic Church to power struggles and bouts with their own humaness through love and sadness. It focuses on two sisters who have a great love for one another through friendship and circumstance yet who are seperated soon after their entering so as not to inhibit their formation. They are eventually reunited on their journey... Sr. Catherine cannot come to grips with the teaching magesterium of the Church and speaks out against it despite much opposition from within. She has a true love for others and wants what is best for them but cannot reconcile herself to a Church and religion she loves and yet cannot come to terms with. Sr. Paul loves the Church and God with all of her heart and seems to fit right in to convent life with a sense of humor that seems able to overcome anything. She is accepting and loving yet finds herself at odds with the community after falling in love with a "rebel" priest. This movie is set during the Vatican II era where there is much change and tension within the Catholic Church. It is done within the settings and confines of the convent and within a Catholic Boarding School. The Catholic students within the movie play a very substantial part in the lives of the sisters and help to bring an understanding of those tumultuous teenage years. Brides of Christ took great strides in trying to bring reality to the lives of those which remain hidden to most of the world. The only exception is that it was misleading in promoting a correct view of how the teachings of the Church come about and how and why they should be accepted. One can pick this up if they are a well instructed Catholic but if one is not they can easily be led astray. All in all the movie was just a great movie with real situations and real characters.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Aussie Nuns? Say G'day again?, July 19, 2001
I purchased this set for no more reason that it is Russell Crowe's first acting job. Mr. Crowe doesn't appear until the 4th of 6 episodes, and then only in that one. I meant to play through it with the sound off until he appeared on screen. But within 10 minutes of the first episode's beginning, I found it impossible not to start listening, and watched the entire series in wrapt fascination. I'm neither Catholic nor Christian, but this program transcends its subject and looks directly into the hearts of its characters with a rare simplicity that avoids sentimentality while being infinitely touching. Brenda Fricker is lovely and moving, and holds centerstage without taking away one iota from the large supporting cast of mostly female players, young and old. This unusual series comes highly recommended as a look into a world I'd never even considered, yet one that is varied, fascinating, and wholely worthwhile. Oh! And Russell Crowe is BRILLIANT! Young, charismatic, charming, and just the right amount of awkward. From the start he had a nose for good material, and this show proves it.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best things ever on television, June 5, 2000
Aside from being a walk down memory lane, since I was in HS at a roman Cath. prep school during the same time as the film, and "our" sisters were very much like the sisters portrayed in the film! I found it fascinating to realize that Australians were dealing with the same issues of social changes and the Vietnam draft that we were! Wonderful writing, great insight, super performances! DO NOT pass this by! Finally, I found the character of Sr. Agnes to be one of the most interesting - when you first "meet" her, esp for those of us who may have had a teacher like her, you understand Catherine wishing she were dead! As the film goes on, you begin to understand her point of view, her capacity for compassion and the breadth of her mind - she is a superb theologian! The other characters are equally fleshed out and real.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
