We finally get to Market Street, and it’s 6:03pm – late. We find the street number and ask where we might find the media screening for The Innocents, and we are directed down a small stairway passage into a tiny little bar, which is completely empty, and from there we find our way into the quaintest cinema I’ve ever been in. It’s very quiet, and within a minute of us taking our seats the lights go down and the film begins.
The Innocents follows the story of Mathilde, a French Red Cross doctor working in Poland after the second world war. She is brought to a convent by a worried nun, and shown several sisters who are heavily pregnant, however it goes against the women’s religious beliefs to bare skin or be touched, and so the secret must remain unless the ‘scandal’ be discovered, the convent closed and the nuns thrown out onto the streets, shamed by the community. Mathilde unfurls the whole complicated situation, with her medical morality in constant battle with the faith and religious politics of the sisters.
I wouldn’t say I enjoyed this movie – it’s not an enjoyable plot, and it’s not meant to be. On the contrary it is quite a serious topic, and the ‘inspired by true events’ haunted me throughout the film. But, I seriously appreciate this film. I doubt I’d watch it again, but only because it’s not the kind of movie you sit at home and think, “Ooh yeah, I could really do with some abused Polish nuns right now”, however I certainly won’t forget this film, and I am very glad to have been able to see it, and appreciate it. Appreciating the shots, the locations, the incredible acting, the beautifully evocative soundtrack; but above all the story that Anne Fontaine is sharing – the story of women helping women regardless of barriers in language and religion, and the various social threats encountered.
Although the film was very solemn, with maybe three laughs in the total two hours, it still held my focus and attention for its entirety, and I’m usually not the best at staying focused in serious films. There was never a dull moment, even when there was peaceful B-Roll of the sisters singing at prayers, the beauty and calming inflection of those scenes was exquisite.
One thing that did catch me and my friend off guard at the beginning of the film was the understanding of the French Red Cross team in the Polish town, and when two characters mixed who were polskie and français, but both subtitled in English, we were a little confused about where we were and what nationality people were and which side they were on. Even if you’re as linguistically dumb as we are, by the end of it you’re fully acquainted with the intense politics between one small Polish town, its convent, their Russian occupation and their French Red Cross workers.
Personally, having almost no knowledge from World War II deeper than your average high schooler, The Innocents was very informative about the effects of World War II, particularly in rural Poland, but even Europe as a whole; dealing with the aftermath of the conflict in such geographical proximity to some major events of the war.
In addition, I had no prior knowledge of convents or traditional Christian convent happenings outside of what I’ve seen in The Sound of Music (in fact I had to google ‘convent’ just now to be sure I didn’t spout some incorrectness and offend anyone with my ignorance), and so The Innocents was an amazing insight to the lives of nuns, sisters, novices and mothers (are these proper nouns?) in a very conventional setting, although exacerbated by the highly unconventional situation. Mathilde is just a portrayal of one post-war woman fighting for life in the most trying of contexts, but how many more were there in truth? How many are fighting right now?
I left the theatre somewhat shaken by the intensity of what I’d just seen, and especially with the notice that this story was based off true events, it really makes you wonder how many convents, sisters, and doctors really went through a version of what I’d just witnessed.
I highly recommend finding a way to see The Innocents, as the understanding and admiration I’ve gained from Anne Fontaine’s powerfully expressive film is invaluable.
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The Innocents is in cinemas nationally 27 April 2017
