Drugstore.com Coupons
How others will see it. The Catholic Church couldn't have been too comfortable with this movie. Not only are the five nuns defeated, but one of them becomes criminally insane, and another wants to transfer out. Kerr bristles with personal ambition, and it's revealed she became a nun to escape the shame of getting dumped by her boyfriend, hardly a testament to her faith.
Is the will of God greater than the will of Mopu and its traditions? Only if the will of God is to cast the Sisters out from where they don't belong. All cultures believe that God smiles first and foremost upon them, but the Truth is more complex than can be understood or accepted.
Modern audiences will probably enjoy the film, and may be surprised to learn it is more than a half century old. Aside from its armchair tourist appeal, Black Narcissus is interesting for its battle of philosophies. Kerr believes that her mission will succeed, and the nuns can leave their stamp on Mopu culture: schools, hospitals, churches.
But hunky Mr. Dean (David Farrar) is certain the Sisters will fail, and not just because other missionaries have failed before them. Common sense dictates that the small group of nuns will become isolated, homesick, ill, and frustrated by the intractable depth of local traditions and their indifference to western religions and practices.
In addition to these problems, Kerr is not fully suited to her position. She wants the mission to succeed due to personal ambition, and not from a desire to impose Catholic influence on Mopu. Thus, she cannot inspire her fellow nuns, much less the locals, and their fate is sealed when she cannot accept the hedonistic faults of Mr. Dean, the one person able to help them succeed.
How I felt about it. I was disappointed in Black Narcissus, and not because the title character only has a few self-conscious scenes. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) and A Matter of Life and Death (1946) buzzed with the glory of all things British, while Black Narcissus takes a different tack, the failure of Britain to culturally conquer India.
But India's culture does not necessarily need to be conquered. Perhaps the nuns were well intentioned, but wrong. Even so, one wishes that the five nuns were made of sterner stuff. They're not just nuns, they're English nuns, and in a Powell-Pressburger film, that should make a significant difference.