Story of the 'Song of Bernadette'
I had been quite sometime since my eyes got wet watching a movie until early morning today when I got to see the movie ‘Song of Bernadette’ which is a 1943 black and white movie.
When you watch the movie you’ll cry for the beauty of the peasant girl, the metaphysical kind of beauty, the beauty of a simple heart that has to endure much the stigma, doubt and the pain that when she dies she begins to doubt her own self.
It’s a story about a simple good natured peasant girl who is known for her sickliness and her gullible stupidity. All she wants in her life is to lead a simple life enjoying all the nuances of life. Even a simple splash of colors could excite her to exhilaration. Of all she just wants to marry a simple man and have a beautiful simple family. And she does have a simple kind-hearted man on her heels which bring color to her pale sickly skin.
She is the eldest last in her class, as she walks the streets everyone laughs. Her teacher snatches from her a holy picture of the manger gifted to her by the Reverend as in her opinion she hadn’t suffered enough to deserve it. Her teacher a nun herself thinks that God rewards those that suffer most.
And one day in a dump yard, she has a vision of a beautiful lady who tells her that she should come to the blessed place for 15 days and see her. Only Bernadette can see the lady, sight of the ‘beautiful lady’ brings great peace to Bernadette’s heart. Story spreads around that the ‘Blessed Virgin’ has appeared before Bernadette and suddenly the simple hearted Bernadette is the object of admiration of the masses, something she does not care for, and the object of ridicule of the elite of the city, something disturbing yet something her gullible heart cannot comprehend and the object of doubt of the Church especially her nun teacher, something that causes the deepest pains in her heart.
The Mayor, the Prosecutor, the Commissioner representing the elite as the harbingers of cultural progress, intellectual credibility, stability of the society respectively, try to do everything to stop her by portraying her as someone causing the masses to regress back to the middle ages, as someone under a hallucination and as someone who disturbs the peace of the town. They use all their powers to brand her a danger to the society, a deceiver of he masses and a fraud that has to be eliminated at all costs. They question her, confuse her and humiliate her. Her simple heart does not understand why people should be so mean to her but she still speaks the truth about her vision of the ‘beautiful lady’.
The wise Reverend silently watches to judge her genuinity having had bad experience with imposters. Her nun teacher simply distrusts Bernadette because she hasn’t suffered enough to warrant God’s grace in any form.
In the meantime the dump yard where the Blessed Virgin gives her visions becomes a place of worship of masses, but the ‘Beautiful Lady’ is visible only to the simple hearted Bernadette. The Reverend asks Bernadette to ask the Blessed Virgin to him a miracle as a sign that Bernadette indeed sees the Blessed Virgin. He tells her to ask her to make a rose plant blossom when it isn’t season yet.
The whole town rallies to the spot, the elite and the masses, to see the events that unfold. Nothing happens. Suddenly as instructed by the ‘Beautiful Lady’ whom none except Bernadette can see, she goes to eat the shrubs and starts to dig frantically at its root applying the damp soil on to her face. The crowd roars with laughter but she goes on until her mom takes her by force to her home.
Bernadette returns home not even cognizant of her stupidity for such is her simple heart. She never sees the ‘Beautiful lady’ again either.
But from the spot where she dug the soil comes out a spring which heals the sick. When the Reverend sees this, he realizes that Bernadette stands vindicated. Hordes of people being to flood the city to be healed by the holy water. The City’s elite decide to put an end to it by branding the water as unclean and by branding her mad and sending her to the asylum. The Reverend steps in to defend her.
He proposes that she be considered for Sainthood as she has been blessed by God and the water which stands a testament heals the sick. She is made to face the inquisition of the papal councils but she is never appreciated or approved. Her nun sister tells her that if she had been born a few centauries earlier she would have been burnt at the stake.
Her simple heart does not understand it all, but she knows that she loves the ‘Beautiful lady’ that appeared to her. She knows that the ‘Beautiful Lady’ was the only person who loved her and understood her. The ‘Beautiful Lady’ was her only solace. She remembers the ‘Beautiful Lady’ telling her a prophesy that Bernadette would not see happiness in this world.
Bernadette wants to marry the simple hearted man who loves her and to lead a simple life. Just then the Reverend convinces her that she having found unprecedented grace of Providence should set herself apart. It would be the cost she would have to pay. She is so simple hearted that she gives-in to his persuasion.
The childlike girl turns her back on the man that loves her, the man decides to remain celibate for the rest of his life. She embarks on her celibate life and is again put under the same nun teacher of hers from whom she faces the greatest stigma. Her nun teacher explains to her that she couldn’t have seen the Blessed Virgin as she hadn’t suffered enough in her life to be worthy before God. She tells everyone that Bernadette is a vile natured kid who came up with the story just to be the center of attention.
The nun confronts Bernadette about her lack of suffering, but Bernadette shows her a sore that causes her much pain that she had to limp around. Doctors consulted diagnose that she has tuberculosis of her bone and that she would die in excruciating pain. It is at this point her nun teacher realizes the cost the Bernadette has to pay she recants. She also realizes that she doubted Bernadette only because of her envy that the Blessed Virgin choose to appear to such a simple hearted person.
Slowly as life ebbs out of Bernadette, the stigma, ridicule and doubts that she faced begin eating into her being. Even then she still faces the question of the councils and gathers up all strength she can bolster to say emphatically that she did see the ‘Blessed Virgin’. Finally, in her deathbed, she calls for the Reverend and tells him that since the day she was humiliated eating shrubs and digging into the ground that she had never seen the ‘Beautiful Lady’ and that then she herself began for the to doubt her vision of the ‘Beautiful Lady’.
At this point one cannot help by cry for Bernadette for such a beautiful heart is made to doubt itself because of the vileness of fellow men. Just then as she regrets her life she regrets for something she does not understand and only the ‘Beautiful Lady’ can save her from this despair. As her body slowly sinks back into the bed wrenched by despair, the ‘Beautiful Lady’ the Blessed Virgin appears again, smiling and reaching out to her and Bernadette eagerly similes back with the same simple hearted smile and having been vindicated in her heart, gives up her ghost.
When you watch the movie you’ll cry for the beauty of the peasant girl, the metaphysical kind of beauty, the beauty of a simple heart that has to endure much the stigma, doubt and the pain that when she dies she begins to doubt her own self.
It’s a story about a simple good natured peasant girl who is known for her sickliness and her gullible stupidity. All she wants in her life is to lead a simple life enjoying all the nuances of life. Even a simple splash of colors could excite her to exhilaration. Of all she just wants to marry a simple man and have a beautiful simple family. And she does have a simple kind-hearted man on her heels which bring color to her pale sickly skin.
She is the eldest last in her class, as she walks the streets everyone laughs. Her teacher snatches from her a holy picture of the manger gifted to her by the Reverend as in her opinion she hadn’t suffered enough to deserve it. Her teacher a nun herself thinks that God rewards those that suffer most.
And one day in a dump yard, she has a vision of a beautiful lady who tells her that she should come to the blessed place for 15 days and see her. Only Bernadette can see the lady, sight of the ‘beautiful lady’ brings great peace to Bernadette’s heart. Story spreads around that the ‘Blessed Virgin’ has appeared before Bernadette and suddenly the simple hearted Bernadette is the object of admiration of the masses, something she does not care for, and the object of ridicule of the elite of the city, something disturbing yet something her gullible heart cannot comprehend and the object of doubt of the Church especially her nun teacher, something that causes the deepest pains in her heart.
The Mayor, the Prosecutor, the Commissioner representing the elite as the harbingers of cultural progress, intellectual credibility, stability of the society respectively, try to do everything to stop her by portraying her as someone causing the masses to regress back to the middle ages, as someone under a hallucination and as someone who disturbs the peace of the town. They use all their powers to brand her a danger to the society, a deceiver of he masses and a fraud that has to be eliminated at all costs. They question her, confuse her and humiliate her. Her simple heart does not understand why people should be so mean to her but she still speaks the truth about her vision of the ‘beautiful lady’.
The wise Reverend silently watches to judge her genuinity having had bad experience with imposters. Her nun teacher simply distrusts Bernadette because she hasn’t suffered enough to warrant God’s grace in any form.
In the meantime the dump yard where the Blessed Virgin gives her visions becomes a place of worship of masses, but the ‘Beautiful Lady’ is visible only to the simple hearted Bernadette. The Reverend asks Bernadette to ask the Blessed Virgin to him a miracle as a sign that Bernadette indeed sees the Blessed Virgin. He tells her to ask her to make a rose plant blossom when it isn’t season yet.
The whole town rallies to the spot, the elite and the masses, to see the events that unfold. Nothing happens. Suddenly as instructed by the ‘Beautiful Lady’ whom none except Bernadette can see, she goes to eat the shrubs and starts to dig frantically at its root applying the damp soil on to her face. The crowd roars with laughter but she goes on until her mom takes her by force to her home.
Bernadette returns home not even cognizant of her stupidity for such is her simple heart. She never sees the ‘Beautiful lady’ again either.
But from the spot where she dug the soil comes out a spring which heals the sick. When the Reverend sees this, he realizes that Bernadette stands vindicated. Hordes of people being to flood the city to be healed by the holy water. The City’s elite decide to put an end to it by branding the water as unclean and by branding her mad and sending her to the asylum. The Reverend steps in to defend her.
He proposes that she be considered for Sainthood as she has been blessed by God and the water which stands a testament heals the sick. She is made to face the inquisition of the papal councils but she is never appreciated or approved. Her nun sister tells her that if she had been born a few centauries earlier she would have been burnt at the stake.
Her simple heart does not understand it all, but she knows that she loves the ‘Beautiful lady’ that appeared to her. She knows that the ‘Beautiful Lady’ was the only person who loved her and understood her. The ‘Beautiful Lady’ was her only solace. She remembers the ‘Beautiful Lady’ telling her a prophesy that Bernadette would not see happiness in this world.
Bernadette wants to marry the simple hearted man who loves her and to lead a simple life. Just then the Reverend convinces her that she having found unprecedented grace of Providence should set herself apart. It would be the cost she would have to pay. She is so simple hearted that she gives-in to his persuasion.
The childlike girl turns her back on the man that loves her, the man decides to remain celibate for the rest of his life. She embarks on her celibate life and is again put under the same nun teacher of hers from whom she faces the greatest stigma. Her nun teacher explains to her that she couldn’t have seen the Blessed Virgin as she hadn’t suffered enough in her life to be worthy before God. She tells everyone that Bernadette is a vile natured kid who came up with the story just to be the center of attention.
The nun confronts Bernadette about her lack of suffering, but Bernadette shows her a sore that causes her much pain that she had to limp around. Doctors consulted diagnose that she has tuberculosis of her bone and that she would die in excruciating pain. It is at this point her nun teacher realizes the cost the Bernadette has to pay she recants. She also realizes that she doubted Bernadette only because of her envy that the Blessed Virgin choose to appear to such a simple hearted person.
Slowly as life ebbs out of Bernadette, the stigma, ridicule and doubts that she faced begin eating into her being. Even then she still faces the question of the councils and gathers up all strength she can bolster to say emphatically that she did see the ‘Blessed Virgin’. Finally, in her deathbed, she calls for the Reverend and tells him that since the day she was humiliated eating shrubs and digging into the ground that she had never seen the ‘Beautiful Lady’ and that then she herself began for the to doubt her vision of the ‘Beautiful Lady’.
At this point one cannot help by cry for Bernadette for such a beautiful heart is made to doubt itself because of the vileness of fellow men. Just then as she regrets her life she regrets for something she does not understand and only the ‘Beautiful Lady’ can save her from this despair. As her body slowly sinks back into the bed wrenched by despair, the ‘Beautiful Lady’ the Blessed Virgin appears again, smiling and reaching out to her and Bernadette eagerly similes back with the same simple hearted smile and having been vindicated in her heart, gives up her ghost.