Cinemazlowski 'The Innocents': a powerful, must-see film for Catholics

There are few films that tell tales of Christian faith truly tested and used to win over incredibly troubling situations, but the current movie "The Innocents" manages to do this in remarkable fashion. It is a disturbing tale through much of its storyline, but there are beautiful moments of grace, compassion and forgiveness throughout, a strongly pro-life message and an unexpected happy ending that manages to be perfect rather than feeling contrived. 

 

The story takes place in Poland during the winter of 1945, when a young intern working with the French Red Cross named Mathilde (Lou de Laage) is confronted by a young nun who has run miles to get to the Red Cross clinic. The nun pleads for help but can't specify why, and Mathilde coldly tells her to find the Polish Red Cross instead – until she looks out the clinic window and finds the nun on her knees in the snow, praying intently through tears. 

 

At that point, Mathilde sneaks out and goes with the nun to her convent, and there she finds that her mission must change. She's supposed to help find, treat and repatriate French survivors of the Nazi German camps, but her life and beliefs change when she discovers the advanced state of pregnancy that affect several of the Sisters of the convent.

 

With the mother superior of the nuns incensed that the nun snuck out for help because she's afraid that word of the pregnancies will cause trouble with the Vatican and lead to their convent being shut down, Mathilde is only allowed to help if she promises to keep it a secret and not bring in other doctors. With at least seven nuns pregnant, it's an overwhelming secret to keep and workload to maintain on top of her normal job, but Mathilde helps despite the fact that she's an ardent atheist.

 

The movie is absorbing as it shows the many sacrifices and dangers Mathilde has to endure in order to help the nuns while keeping her job and staying alive. It also shows the dramatic effect that working with the nuns has on her personality, although her love for the nuns and determination to help them never translates into a conversion to faith.

 

However, the movie does show the nuns in a thoroughly sympathetic and positive light, aside from the Mother Superior who harbors a horrible secret through much of the movie. In the end, Mathilde concocts an elaborate yet thoroughly perfect and beautiful solution about how the nuns can maintain their relationships with their babies without facing shame or retribution.

 

"The Innocents" is a very emotional and draining film for much of its running time, yet it is a film that all people of Christian and Catholic faith should see. One can hardly imagine a more difficult dilemma than the ones these nuns faced, and as such the movie manages to provide a stunning example of what can happen positively even when a woman keeps a child conceived by the horror of rape.

 

Bringing faith and a pro-life message on screen through an historic tale also adds to the power of this film, as no one can accuse it of being a fictional propaganda story. The performances, writing, direction and especially the cinematography are all a wonder to behold

 

"The Innocents" is too heavy for children to see, but older teens and adults will certainly find it to be one of the most compelling films about faith they will ever experience. Since it has been playing in a limited number of theatres for a month now, please keep it in mind for its release on DVD and VOD.