This is pretty basic anti-catholic stuff but smoothed around the edges as to not to truly offend. As a film it was well done and the characters are interesting. I found it quite enjoyable but my wife, my fiend and my friend's wife were hurrying for the exits. In this era of material success and massive ego, the old-fashioned believer is an easy target.
3 Reviews
Wonderful interesting movie about the testing of faith.
pinkfish13 June 2000
An interesting movie about testing of faith and how people react to things when fundamental bits of their faith are questioned. It is about a man at a monestary who turns into a woman and becomes pregnant and how all the other monks react to the change. Beautifully executed and beautifully filmed, I was really impressed with this movie.
Different kind of religious story.
TxMike25 March 2003
Warning: Spoilers
Judging from the few votes and reviews, this film has not been seen by many. I found the DVD on the shelf at my local public library and took it home for one reason - Daniel von Bargen who plays one of the monks. Daniel and I go way back, to the late 60s at Purdue where we were in a long-running (28 performances) student musical together, and I enjoy seeing his performances in all his films. Here he is the most doubtfl monk, drinks too much Mass wine, and at one point says "maybe we should go back to old traditions and burn people at the stake."
SPOILERS follow - This is a simple little story set on a monastery where grapes are grown not only for Mass wine, but also for public consumption in the California wine counrty. One of the newer monks, about age 40, has an experience when the angel Gabriel visits him. The monk community become polarized when the younger monks want to believe him, while the older monks want to dismiss this as a vivid dream. He soon begins to feel different, his face becomes smooth, he starts to grow breasts, and then finds out he/she is pregnant. The older monks believe this must be the work of the devil, and try to imprison her to her cell in the monastery.
Much of the middle of the film is the conflict between the older, traditional monks and the newer ones who are more accepting of the possibility of a miracle. The conflict is convincingly scripted and acted, and is mentally stimulating. The subsurface theme is whether one can be open to ideas which conflict with long-held beliefs.
In the end we see the ex-monk with her beautiful, blonde-hair child. Gabriel did appear to her, and by a miracle he was changed into a woman and given a child. Of course this is a direct parallel to the Catholic belief of the Virgin Mary being given the child, Jesus, but unlike one IMDb reviewer, I do not look at it as an anti-Catholic story. If we believe that God can make those kinds of miracles, why can't we believe that He might make a similar one in modern times? For a holy and humble man who may be better off as a mother? I don't think answering that question is important, because this is a work of fiction (I suppose), but the film is worth a look simply because it takes a very novel concept and makes us think. How are we to know what miracles God is working among us right now??
SPOILERS follow - This is a simple little story set on a monastery where grapes are grown not only for Mass wine, but also for public consumption in the California wine counrty. One of the newer monks, about age 40, has an experience when the angel Gabriel visits him. The monk community become polarized when the younger monks want to believe him, while the older monks want to dismiss this as a vivid dream. He soon begins to feel different, his face becomes smooth, he starts to grow breasts, and then finds out he/she is pregnant. The older monks believe this must be the work of the devil, and try to imprison her to her cell in the monastery.
Much of the middle of the film is the conflict between the older, traditional monks and the newer ones who are more accepting of the possibility of a miracle. The conflict is convincingly scripted and acted, and is mentally stimulating. The subsurface theme is whether one can be open to ideas which conflict with long-held beliefs.
In the end we see the ex-monk with her beautiful, blonde-hair child. Gabriel did appear to her, and by a miracle he was changed into a woman and given a child. Of course this is a direct parallel to the Catholic belief of the Virgin Mary being given the child, Jesus, but unlike one IMDb reviewer, I do not look at it as an anti-Catholic story. If we believe that God can make those kinds of miracles, why can't we believe that He might make a similar one in modern times? For a holy and humble man who may be better off as a mother? I don't think answering that question is important, because this is a work of fiction (I suppose), but the film is worth a look simply because it takes a very novel concept and makes us think. How are we to know what miracles God is working among us right now??
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