I don’t know if it is possible to understand the position that the nun featured in this film was in. She was a wife and a mother who had very powerful beliefs in her religion. When her son was diagnosed with a very severe stage of cancer she went on a great pilgrimage to find salvation for him. His life was saved and even the doctors gave credit to God’s influence. As a form of thanks the nun had a revelation and after her 50th birthday she gave herself over to God. Her husband had left the family and her children were grown, so she made the choice to enter a convent to become a nun. She found her place there in directing the choir and offered her thanks to God in the sacrifices that she made.
I cannot relate to most of the experiences that this woman had therefore it is very hard for me to understand the choice that she made. Having once given into the ‘temptations’ that she now sees as incredibly sinful makes it even harder for me to see. The gratitude that she had for the work that God did for her family and her son’s life was so much that she began to question her freedom to enjoy her son and her family. I don’t understand why it is not possible to give yourself over to God without sacrificing basic human needs. This nun questioned the choice that she made to hear her son’s concert. She is his mother and should have the freedom to support him in his accomplishments. Granted the priest was very supportive of her decisions and encouraged her to maintain her relationships with her children, but why does it have to be such a hard choice in the first place?
Probably you feel to enter a convent as a loss of freedom. But what about if this is the choice which make you really free? Free from the "conventional" ideas of our society in which "success" is measured through the 'things' we have and not by the real satisfaction we get from those things, maybe. Freedom of doing something because of passion and not because of pressure, maybe. Freedom of being able to leave your family, even if you are 'the mother' and supposed to be always present for them - and she is, but in a more personal and challenging way, probably...
RispondiEliminaWhich lead me to ask you: what is freedom for you? ;-)