|
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.
©
www.charitysplace.com
- all rights reserved.
|