User Reviews

Since when do a group of people in a church dictate the culture and traditions and rules of the church structure? America was founded on religious freedom and the reason there are so many religions around the world is because not everyone agrees with the path to enlightenment. So, you don't like your lot, and you can't change it, you comply or start your own community. There's nothing heroic in that. If this was a film about child molestation and what they did to prevent it, I'd hail these women as heroes, no question but rather all I see is a group of women, naive about what they vowed to, disenchanted with what they vowed to and then trying to change a system they are part of by ridicule, propaganda and intimidation. Several times they claim to be enlightened, critical thinkers yet they're anything but that. A critical thinker is someone who can with an unbiased perspective analyze and reason about ideas that they may not agree with. But, a telling example of non-critical thinking is the part in the film where the cardinal tells them they're expected to wear a garb that is recognized as religious commitment, but the response of this woman ms caspery is, "they just want us to obey and conform". But, maybe his comment was literal. Afterall, the nun habit is a symbol of religious commitment. It's a marketing tool and gives church members a sense of the role of the church relative to their own roll. So why is it unreasonable to expect nuns to wear a habit? Is it unreasonable for someone so far up the hierarchy to set rules and boundaries and expect them to be followed, regardless of their own gender, or bias? But, she's interpreted his message in a wholly different way, and throughout the film, it's comment after comment like that. "He said, she said". It's like listening to hen party gossip rather than than thoughtful argument. Ok, maybe they're right. Maybe all of the communications of the church were not literal and had to be interpreted for what they actually meant, and maybe the catholic church is an outdated patriarch, and wearing medieval garb is rather silly and they have every right I suppose (not being catholic, I can only presume) to argue against the church and it's practices but how do you argue against gender bias by creating an all one gender community. Is the answer to patriarchy, creating a matriarchy? Integration vs segregation? It's very telling that there's not one mention of men's roles in teaching throughout the film. They're whinging about gender discrimination while at the same time excluding men and perpetuating gender stereotypes of their own. And though they have every right to try and change the church, they protest to much about their victimization, and too much ridicule of church leaders to be dedicated catholics. These women aren't martyrs or rebels but women looking for a sisterhood, community, self actualization, and exclusion. Their work to overcome is not trivial but not heroic either and probably not very effective too. Unfortunately, it's stories like this that actually denigrate women because telling stories about women who've made a significant impact in the past on their communities are often ignored by the media as not entertaining. No, it always has to be stories of women overcoming something and fighting against gender bias. How many more years can the media keep these myths flying?

Also, check the credits and note the executive producers, who often get their title by investing money in projects their passionate about but usually have no personal involvement or knowledge in the issue besides a perspective and who have no commitment to truth or care about the impact of their films. America has gone thru this before but this is real low point for making any progress.