A tale regarding the struggles of nuns during the launch of Vatican II in 60's is a message movie w/no message, a drama lacking it, a hodgepodge of cliches, notions & stereotypes if there ever was one. Ping ponging between homosexuality, religious hysteria & extreme penance, I wondered if I was watching a film about the battles for one's soul or an episode of Ninja Warrior where every contestant was wearing habits. If ever a story editor needed to wrest control of a script from a writer, this surely was the case.

I was really interested in Traditional Catholicism.I was lucky that I got to see this film entitled "Novitiate" to give me a better glimpse of what the Catholic Church is all about before Vatican II. Margaret Betts,who is in her directorial debut, presents to us a movie that stars Andie McDowell's daughter Margaret Qualley together with Julianne Nicholson and Melissa Leo,as the complex Reverend Mother, that tells the story of Cathleen,a young woman who obviously grew up in a broken family, that found comfort in God to meet her needs of love and decides to become a nun as well as how Pope John XXIII's Vatican II reforms severely affected the Catholic Church in both good and bad ways. While many viewers will see this as an anti-Catholic film especially people are not old enough to experience what Traditional Catholicism is all about during the 50's and the 60's when mass was said in Latin and the priest saying mass turned back to the crowd; the contributions that nuns brought to the American educational system; and how nuns truly tried to become perfect like Jesus Christ as well as how they punished themselves whenever they commit sins against God. Added to that, we also see Cathleen's transformation in life from being a little child to her journey on living the monastic life from being a postulant, a novitiate, and finally a nun. It also tells us what monastic life was all about pre-Vatican II and how the reforms somehow made the Catholic Church deteriorate as followers of Christ. No wonder that there are more than 14,000+ Protestant denominations today unlike in the past when there were probably only 1,000+. It also showed us how the reforms brought the worst on Cathleen as she struggles with these Vatican II reforms in more ways than one from her faith,the monastic life that she is accustomed too, and even in terms of her sexual desires as well as her identity as a nun as well as a Catholic.Aside from that,we are also brought to the issues of feminism especially when the Vatican II reforms were instituted as the nuns were not given any voice at all nor were asked of their opinion which was greatly characterized by the complex Reverend Mother,portrayed extremely well by Melissa Leo. At the end of the movie,we witnessed on how these reforms led to the mass exodus of 90,000 nuns from the convent. No wonder there is a shortage of both nuns and priests in the Catholic Church particularly in the United States at present. While the new Catholic Church has become open to the modern world, they definitely were hurt by these reforms as the changes brought less shepherds of Christ that led to the deterioration of Catholicism especially with less people becoming either priests or nuns.

This film could have been so much more, it could have been The Nun's Story, except it was made in the same vein as any other Horror of the Catholic Church movie. So many obvious fallacies, where to begin? Oh yes, how about NO unbaptized girl would be admitted to any convent. No nun who was enduring a crisis of faith would be the Novice Mistress. No Mother Superior would viciously crush a postulant for breaking Grand Silence a few seconds early. No obviously insane Mother Superior would hold her office as long as it took to scream the house down, much less take on the formation of postulants. Professed nuns would not be afflicted with the company of unformed girls, nor would they titter with amusement over the antics of a sister who suffers from dementia. I do not see any deathly ill person rising from her sickbed to engage in wild lesbianism because her friend held her hand for a few minutes. All this movie manages to convey is how rabid, dark and perverse is the mind of Protestantism. It's no different than the Maria Monk nonsense of the last century. I did like the mother-daughter story line, I am sure it is agony to see your daughter leave your world, at least that part seemed true to life. Don't waste your time, unless you like anti-Catholic porn.

Novitiate (2017) was written and directed by Margaret Betts. Margaret Qualley portrays Sister Cathleen, who decides to become a nun because of her love for Jesus. She was not raised as a Catholic. In fact, her mother (Julianne Nicholson) considers the decision as a horribly bad move.As the movie progresses, I started to believe that her mother was right. Young women who want to love and serve Jesus are systematically brutalized and humiliated by the Reverend Mother (Melissa Leo). In fact, the Reverend Mother appears consumed by her desire not to allow the young women to think. She also makes it difficult for them to bond with each other. She demands total and absolute obedience from all the women--postulants, novitiates, and nuns.Then, Vatican II ends, and the Catholic church wants to modernize and change. Whether this is good news or bad news for the nuns is an open question in the context of this movie. You'll have to see the movie to learn what happens to Sister Cathleen and the other novitiates. We saw this film at Rochester's excellent Little Theatre, but it will work on the small screen. As I write this review, the movie has a anemic 6.7 IMDb rating. I think it's better than that.