Communication / Culture > Documentary
Year: 1968, 66 minsDVD/Streaming/Rental - NTSC Code: KAR-Nuns
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Year: 1968, 66 minsDVD/Streaming/Rental - NTSC Code: KAR-Nuns add to wishlist
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Two young nuns explore Chicago, from a supermarket to the Art Institute and in front of churches on Sunday, confronting people with the crucial question, "Are you happy?" They meet a lonely girl, a happy mother, another nun, lovers, hippie musicians, a lady sociologist, a professor, and even actor Stepin Fetchit. The answers they get range in sincerity and depth: "Happiness is the absence of fear," "Avoiding people," "Raspberries," "Joy in knowing Christ." The humour and sadness of these honest encounters lift the film beyond its interview format to a serious and moving inquiry into the concerns of contemporary man in 1968, and also into the circumstances in which men will actually express their concerns. Bonus features include an update with the nuns.
Directed by Gordon Quinn and Gerald Temaner.Music by Philip Glass.
Sun Valley Spiritual Film Festival 2010Screening - Chicago History Museum 2008Retrospective - Rincon International Film Festival (Puerto Rico) 2008Official Selection - Chicago International Film Festival 1969
"In this fascinating 1968 documentary, one of the earliest by Kartemquin Films, two outgoing Catholic nuns, Sister Marie Arne and Sister Mary Campion, walk around Chicago asking people if they're happy. The answers they get are reasoned, spiritual, sometimes philosophical, and, in one case, frankly sexual, but a recurring motif is hope that the Vietnam war will end soon. The sisters' warmth and interest are reciprocated by their subjects, most of whom show concern for others and little regard for their moment in the spotlight." - Andrea Gronvall, The Chicago Reader
“...Inquiring Nuns is the closest thing to a ‘pure’ documentary that I have ever seen.” - William Routt, Film Quarterly
“Guilessly provocative…A-” - Terry Catchpole, Entertainment Weekly
"Inquiring Nuns is handled with such surpassing understanding that it becomes a quite profound and moving experience…a marvelous revelation of our time and ourselves."- Richard Christiansen, Chicago Daily News
"A profound and moving experience for the viewer… we have a chance to meet people talking honestly and openly about themselves… a marvelous revelation of our time and ourselves."- Chicago Tribune
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