THE THORN BIRDS

REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP

Our rating: 2 out of 5

Because of: sexual implications, anti-religious themes

Rated:

An emotionally draining and powerfully stirring film, The Thorn Birds is a controversial love story that questions the Catholic faith and God's gifts to mankind. In the early nineteen twenties, Father Ralph (Richard Chamberland) has come to the Australian outback in the hopes of earning his way up the hierarchy of the church. Banished for disagreeing with a higher member of the order, Ralph must rely on the generosity of the wealthiest woman in Australia for his ticket to power. Mary Carson (Barbara Stanwyck) is old, eccentric, and more than a little lustful of the handsome priest. A widow without children, there are only two options for her estate. To leave it to her estranged brother Paddy and his family, who are impoverished, or to grant Ralph what he desires. Deciding to play both fields, Mary sends for her brother (Richard Kiley) and his wife Fiona (Jean Simmons). They have a passel of boys and only one girl, Meggie.

The eleven-year-old is neglected by her mother, who "only sees her sons" because male children are the "triumph of every woman's life," but adored by her eldest brother Frank (John Friedrich), who has a tumultuous relationship with his father. Father Ralph takes Meggie underneath his wing, offering her the love and reassurance she so desperately needs. When her wealthy aunt pays for her to attend his school, the priest offers her the comforts of home by allowing her to live with his housekeeper and himself in the parish rather than among the other girls. With Frank growing increasingly unhappy with his parents, Fiona pregnant again, and Mary keeping a careful watch on her favorite minister, it is only a matter of time before the facade of happy existence they've woven comes tumbling down. Ralph set out to become a true man of God, but cannot seem to lay aside his human desires. He wants the love of a good woman but his vows prevent him from finding true happiness, and he cannot understand why little Meggie gives him such joy.

As a child she is like a daughter to him; he can cling to her to without fear of rejection or speculation but as the years pass Meggie grows into a beautiful woman (Rachel Ward). Meggie is passionately in love with him by the age of seventeen, and his emotions toward her are not entirely priestly. Mary observes this entanglement in the making and decides to make the best of it. She vows to steal the priest's soul at the cost of her own, and leaves him to make a terrible choice between power and love, happiness and misery, chance and fate. From beyond the grave she continues to haunt him as he follows the workings of her will and inevitably faces devastation. As he rises in the church alongside the speculative but compassionate Cardinal Vittorio (Christopher Plummer), Meggie finds temporary happiness in the arms of another man, but they will eventually be driven back together again. While the thread of this miniseries is just as controversial as the novel on which it is based, there's also something intoxicating about it. We become emotionally involved in the journey, learning to love Ralph just as much as Meggie does. We entertain pain, sorrow, laughter, and triumph, while our heart breaks for these two sincerely lost souls.

Ralph is confronted with the knowledge that he is a man and needs a companion, not just of the body but also the soul. Because Meggie fills this place in his heart, his faith is tormented, for he believes God should be at the center of his life. Watching him struggle is made all the more painful for us because we know eventually he will submit and break his vows. Because of this, the novel and film have distinctly untrue theology in them. Ralph does not give up the church for Meggie, but does share a passionate four day liaison with her. He continues this relationship twenty years later on a meeting of impulse, yet finds no shame in professing to be a man of God. Meggie also uses every opportunity to rail at the creator, blaming Him for "taking away everything she has ever loved." There is a redeeming element in the story of her son, who enters into the church to become a priest, but still the storyline leaves much to be morally desired. I enjoyed it as it unfolded but wasn't happy with some of the emotions of tolerance it arose within me. I was happy when Meggie and Ralph finally got together, when I should have been dismayed -- he was a Bishop at the time, and she an [unhappily] married woman.

With these themes carrying throughout, viewers have probably already made up their minds whether or not to give The Thorn Birds a chance to take wing, but some content issues do bear mentioning. There is no graphic sexual content (this was filmed and shown on television in the '80's) but many implications, lengthy passionate kissing scenes, "morning after" shots, and sexual dialogue, as well as distant side nudity on the part of Ralph. He towels off after a rainstorm on the porch and Mary Cleary comes out to comment on how beautiful he is. She makes several lustful overtures toward him at various points (asking to be kissed, flirting with him, licking his finger as he gives her communion). Much is made about the priestly vow of celibacy. Mary teases him about being banished to the wilds of Australia, wondering if he'd broken that vow. Ralph is forced to deal with a young priest who succumbed to temptation. It is he who explains delicately to Meggie that intimacy is not just mating, but an act of love. He and Meggie share numerous passionate kisses (usually they break off when he resists, but one instance leads straight into bed; lengthy feverish kissing is all we see).

Luke implies he's been with many women and makes mild advances toward Meggie, but when she offers herself to him, he refuses. After their marriage Meggie sets out to get herself pregnant, taking advice from Lady Chatterley's Lover and manipulating Luke. Conversation references it later, along with how painful her "first time" was. After her adulterous tryst with Ralph in a beach cabin, Meggie learns that her mother followed a similar path when she was young. The cardinal waves aside Ralph breaking his vows for the sake of reminding the priest he's been humbled in the knowledge that he's just a man after all. There are a dozen profanities in all, along with mild abuse of deity. Half the characters are religious in some form, the other half are either atheists or directly antagonistic toward God. Violence enters in the form of fist fights, boxing, and other sports. Thematic elements are prevalent with several implied deaths (being gored to death by a wild pig, having a burning tree fall on you, a child dying of fever) and disastrous events. There's something meaningful about the story but also cautionary. It will offend most Catholics and other denominations will have a hard time overlooking the theme of adultery.

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