Elizabeth, I am very much enjoying your pictures and video clips from Japan. It's awesome that you got to see Mt. Fuji, and when you say "Tokyo is insane" I can imagine! Nine million people and all those lights, like Times Square on steroids. Wow. I feel like I am there vicariously through your pics, and I'm glad you got to go. I hope you've got more time left on your trip, with more sights to see. Keep the pictures coming, they're great! :):) (update : I just saw on FB that you're on your way back home. I'm glad you had such a great time!)
I drove up to O'Melveny Park after church and was pleased to see that it has re-opened. The burn damage was about what I expected - the center of the park, the main lawn and trees, was untouched (thank goodness) but the entire back end was destroyed, a similar pattern to what happened at Aliso and Limekiln Canyons. At O'Melveny, all the vegetation on the mountainsides is gone. The mountains just look like bald mounds of dirt, with blackened sticks poking up here and there. The shock of the fire has passed, though, and I know everything will grow back in time, so I'm not as depressed about it as I was at first. One thing, however - at O'Melveny there has always been an on-site caretaker. Because it's such a huge park - the second biggest in Los Angeles - they built a house at the edge of the wide, green lawn for the caretaker to live in. Imagine having that job and getting to live in that house, all by yourself in the middle of an incredible nature park. Unfortunately, the house was a casualty of the fire. I was sorry to see that it was the one thing that burned down in the green area of the park. I hope the city will rebuild it, and that they have placed the caretaker nearby in the meantime. Before the fire, when I would hike at O'Melveny I would always imagine myself in his shoes, living in that house in the park. May he return home soon.
Tonight's movie was "The Nun's Story" (1959) starring Audrey Hepburn. It's the type of epic story that is often recognized at the Academy Awards, and indeed it was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actress for Audrey's performance. She plays a young Belgian woman, the daughter of a famous surgeon (played by Dean Jagger, and yes we are on a Dean Jagger kick in case you were wondering). Audrey takes after her Dad in that she is brilliant and gifted in medicine. However, much to Dean Jagger's dismay, she tells him that she wants to become a nun. Specifically, she wants to join an Order that works in the Belgian Congo. They will train her as a nurse, and that way she will be able to follow God and follow in her father's footsteps. Dad tries to dissuade her, believing she is not cut out to be a nun, but Audrey is determined. She is an all-or-nothing personality who wants not only to be the best nun she can be, but also a great nurse. This is her chance to become both things, if the Order will accept her.
Hmmm, so you wanna become a nun, do you? After watching what Audrey Hepburn goes through to meet the requirements, I'd say it's easier to join the Marine Corps or the Navy Seals. The first 45 minutes of the film follows her through the rigorous disciplines of training for the Sisterhood : learning self-denial, abstinence, rejection of ego. strict humility, maintaining silence, etc. etc. There is penance to be performed for even talking about one's former life, or speaking with pride in any way. There are no mirrors in the convent. The sisters must not touch each other. If you thought Gregory Peck was tough in "Twelve O' Clock High", he's got nothing on Mother Mathilde from this movie. The difference is that her authority is not absolute. Joining the Order is voluntary; a prospect can leave at any time. Mother Mathilde even suspects that Hepburn may be too headstrong to be a nun, but while Audrey is within the convent walls, she's got to obey the rules. This may turn out to be a problem for her.
Once she becomes a Sister, she again makes it known that she wishes to be sent to the Congo. But speaking her desire works against her. She is instead sent to assist at a mental institution, where she is put in charge of criminally insane patients. This assignment will prove difficult, again because of her tendency to disobey the rules, which in this case are in place for her own safety. When Mother Mathilde realizes it was a mistake to assign her to the asylum, Audrey finally gets her wish. She is reassigned to the Congo, as the nurse to a top-flight surgeon working in a village hospital. He is played by the great Peter Finch,who was quite handsome in his younger days. The doctor is said to be a "genius" by the hospital nuns, but they also warn Sister Luke (as Hepburn is now known) that he's not religious and is quite a ladies' man. "Your habit will not protect you", she is warned, meaning that Finch will hit on her regardless that she's a nun. But the film doesn't really go there. Once Finch sees that Sister Luke is herself a genius with a microscope, and that she won't even acknowledge his advances, he treats her as an equal. All he asks is that she dedicate herself 100% to the patients, even is it means missing communion or other duties of the cloth.
As a team, Finch and Sister Luke become indispensable to the village. He wants to work with her permanently, but something will happen to cause her to be recalled to Belgium. While there, the news breaks that Germany has invaded France. This will have a considerable effect on the plot. Though Audrey had hoped to return to the Congo, she receives a message that may change her plans. That's all I will tell you, but it's an amazing story, based on a book by Katherine Hulme, the real life nun behind the movie. As a religious film, it's as devout as I've seen, right up there with "The Song of Bernadette" or "The Flowers of St. Francis" (both of which are highly recommended). Fred Zinneman directs with an almost reverential admiration for the material, and the Technicolor photography is beautiful and not oversaturated, which would be inappropriate for this film. We were talking about Jane Wyman the other night, and remarked that she is underrated as an actress, and the same goes for Audrey Hepburn. She was much more than just a style icon or a movie star best suited to romances and light comedies. She could really act and she proves it here; she is Sister Luke.
I give "The Nun's Story" Two Very Big Thumbs Up. It's long (152 minutes) and slow paced, and it's the kind of trans-cultural story (like "A Passage To India") that will take you to unfamiliar places. It's not an "entertainment" movie, per se, but it's very well made and you should have no trouble enjoying it if you're in the right mood. Highly recommended. //////
That's all for today. I had a nice hike at Santa Susana. The Rams are getting clobbered by Baltimore so it's not looking good for my prediction, haha, but there's still one more half to go. Let's hope it doesn't get any worse! See you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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