The Characters in the 'Song of Bernadette'
Song of Bernadette is a movie that profound in many ways. No wonder it got 4 Oscars in 1943. At first sight, it is about a gullible girl who is made to suffer the stigma of the society because of some visions that she sees. On a deeper side, its about what drives people in life and what difference faith makes to ones world view.
On one side is Bernadette a naive girl who hasn’t the caliber to understand the complexities of life around her. She lives a simple life enjoying all the beautiful nuances it offers. One day, she sees a vision of a ‘Beautiful Lady’ in a dump yard over a few days, but none else can see what she does. She does not try to reason out if she is in a hallucination or not, she just has faith that what she saw was indeed true. For this she is stigmatized by the following people. No matter how many times she is ridiculed by them she holds on to her faith.
Then there is the hedonist Mayor who of all cares only for his self advancement. His chief virtue is to seek affluence whatever the means, when Bernadette looked like she would affect his pursuit, he was dead against her when he realized that she meant money of a different kind, he sided with her.
Then there is the stoic nun Teacher of hers whose chief virtue in life is to suffer, to suffer for the sake of suffering hoping that suffering by itself would make her more worthy of God. She looks down on Bernadette as she is a playful simple girl. Then when Bernadette has visions of the Blessed Virgin, she is consumed with envy until she comes to the realization that Bernadette is dieing in excruciating pain at which point she asks for God forgiveness for having treated Bernadette badly and takes it upon her to care for the dieing being.
Then that is the existentialist Doctor. He pronounces Bernadette sane no matter how much the town officials want to send her to an asylum. He claims science to be above all, but his world view is that life is ‘absurdity’ because being an empiricist when he comes across miracles all he can claim is that its absurd. He is also the Sartre existentialist in that his chief virtue is to authenticate himself by his profession, in the midst of all absurdity. That is the only ethic he sees and does his work to perfection. Life to him has nothing more to offer.
Then there is the principled, pragmatic and prudent Reverend. His chief virtue is to be on the side of truth. He knows when to distance himself from Bernadette and when to side with her, whom to side with while not exactly siding with them. When he is convinced about the truth about Bernadette he fights for her tooth and nail even when it meant that he could loose his all.
Then there is the nihilist prosecutor of the city who of all people most earnestly seeks to destroy Bernadette because her claims defies his reasoning. To the prosecutor all of life has to be logical and rational. Anything that does not fit into his logical framework cannot be true. He is a loner who cares for none because logically there is no reason why anyone should care or love. When Bernadette is dead and the place where she saw the ‘Blessed Virgin’ has been converted into a Shrine where many sick come for healing he walks there knowing well that to his logical mind what was happening was an abomination. He walks there knowing that he is fighting a loosing battle with throat cancer but he cannot get himself to seek healing there because it is not logical.
He stands there and reasons out what has come of his life. His logic has driven him to nihilism. Logic and reasoning by itself cannot create anything of value in life and his life driven by logic and reasoning has become devoid of anything that is of any value. He has loved none neither has he allowed anyone to love him. His intellectual pursuits could not help him and he dies alone.
As he walk up to the altar of the shrine with all these thoughts run through his mind, he realizes that his logic cannot save him. Only a faith could give him hope and save him from despair. But his logic is so entrenched into his being that faith can have no place there. The movie ends with his plea calling Bernadette to help his unbelief, seeking help from the very thing he sought to destroy.
On one side is Bernadette a naive girl who hasn’t the caliber to understand the complexities of life around her. She lives a simple life enjoying all the beautiful nuances it offers. One day, she sees a vision of a ‘Beautiful Lady’ in a dump yard over a few days, but none else can see what she does. She does not try to reason out if she is in a hallucination or not, she just has faith that what she saw was indeed true. For this she is stigmatized by the following people. No matter how many times she is ridiculed by them she holds on to her faith.
Then there is the hedonist Mayor who of all cares only for his self advancement. His chief virtue is to seek affluence whatever the means, when Bernadette looked like she would affect his pursuit, he was dead against her when he realized that she meant money of a different kind, he sided with her.
Then there is the stoic nun Teacher of hers whose chief virtue in life is to suffer, to suffer for the sake of suffering hoping that suffering by itself would make her more worthy of God. She looks down on Bernadette as she is a playful simple girl. Then when Bernadette has visions of the Blessed Virgin, she is consumed with envy until she comes to the realization that Bernadette is dieing in excruciating pain at which point she asks for God forgiveness for having treated Bernadette badly and takes it upon her to care for the dieing being.
Then that is the existentialist Doctor. He pronounces Bernadette sane no matter how much the town officials want to send her to an asylum. He claims science to be above all, but his world view is that life is ‘absurdity’ because being an empiricist when he comes across miracles all he can claim is that its absurd. He is also the Sartre existentialist in that his chief virtue is to authenticate himself by his profession, in the midst of all absurdity. That is the only ethic he sees and does his work to perfection. Life to him has nothing more to offer.
Then there is the principled, pragmatic and prudent Reverend. His chief virtue is to be on the side of truth. He knows when to distance himself from Bernadette and when to side with her, whom to side with while not exactly siding with them. When he is convinced about the truth about Bernadette he fights for her tooth and nail even when it meant that he could loose his all.
Then there is the nihilist prosecutor of the city who of all people most earnestly seeks to destroy Bernadette because her claims defies his reasoning. To the prosecutor all of life has to be logical and rational. Anything that does not fit into his logical framework cannot be true. He is a loner who cares for none because logically there is no reason why anyone should care or love. When Bernadette is dead and the place where she saw the ‘Blessed Virgin’ has been converted into a Shrine where many sick come for healing he walks there knowing well that to his logical mind what was happening was an abomination. He walks there knowing that he is fighting a loosing battle with throat cancer but he cannot get himself to seek healing there because it is not logical.
He stands there and reasons out what has come of his life. His logic has driven him to nihilism. Logic and reasoning by itself cannot create anything of value in life and his life driven by logic and reasoning has become devoid of anything that is of any value. He has loved none neither has he allowed anyone to love him. His intellectual pursuits could not help him and he dies alone.
As he walk up to the altar of the shrine with all these thoughts run through his mind, he realizes that his logic cannot save him. Only a faith could give him hope and save him from despair. But his logic is so entrenched into his being that faith can have no place there. The movie ends with his plea calling Bernadette to help his unbelief, seeking help from the very thing he sought to destroy.