I was amazed how a long, fairly slow film like this could capture and keep my attention all the way through.....but it did. This is really a quality film, as those who have seen it for years, will attest. It's so well done, in all phases, that when the two-and-a-half hours are up, you just marvel and what you've witnessed.

Anyone who has tried to live a perfect life, to please God and never offend Him with sins of any nature, knows it is impossible. It is a noble pursuit, but an exercise in futility that can lead to utter frustration. That is the dilemma we witness here in this film through the life of a well-meaning and sweet-as-can-be Belgian lady: "Gabrielle van der Mal" who is renamed "Sister Luke" after completing her training as a nun in the 1930s. Audrey Hepburn is superb as this woman, who has the greatest of spiritual intentions and a heart not only for God but to be a great nurse and follow in her father's footsteps, a famous physician in his country.

Can't she be both? The answer, of course, is "yes," but that's not the answer she receives periodically at the convent, or interprets because she's so tough on herself, and it causes great inner conflict.

Hepburn doesn't have tons of dialog in here and doesn't require it. The different looks on her face during this long story, especially when there is disappointment, are priceless. They are so subtle, but so telling. I am one who would vote for this film as Audrey's best performance, which is saying a lot.

Enjoyable as well colorful picture about a dedicated religious nurse who attempts to cure troubled people in the Belgian Congo . The melancholy tale from the Kathryn Hulme book dealing with a young missionary working as a nurse during WWII and based on the novel of the same name, that told the story of the real-life "Sister Luke," Marie-Louise Habets . Gabriella (enticing Audrey Hepburn ,the character was suggested for Ingrid Bergman but Bergman herself said she was too old for the role and instead proposed Audrey) is the daughter of an important doctor (Dean Jagger) who leaves the convent as Sister Luke . The movie has opening credits play out over street scenes of Bruges , at over 1,500 years old , one of the oldest cities in Belgium, and at one time, the most important commercial city in the world . In 1939, while the Nazi regime subjugates European Nations Graciella travels to the Belgian Congo , her assignment in the Congo is at a European hospital under the atheist eye of a doctor called Fortunai (Peter Finch). Slowly , Gabriella or Sister Luke heals ills , helps injured villagers and usually prays . But the Nazis rise to power and invade her homeland . Then , she returns Belgium , there questions her religious vocation and her moralizing comes back to haunt her .

Director Fred Zinneman struck a correct balance of fine pace and sensitivity in the mesmerizing tale of a young Belgian girl who becomes a religious missionary and is sent to the Belgian Congo to work at a hospital . Finely starred by a luminous Audrey Hepburn as a dedicated nun who subsequently comes to question her vocation , as she is struggling to reconcile her free spirit and philanthropic wishes with the religious rigors ; Hepburn chalked up another hit in this long but always interesting flick based on Kathryn Hulme's novel , being rightly adapted by screenwriter Robert Anderson . Spectacular settings and well staged scenes , in fact , members of the Rome Opera ballet corps were hired to play some of the nuns, and complex convent rituals were literally choreographed for them . This agreeable flick packs an exciting screenplay , thought-provoking drama , fine interpretations and intelligent filmmaking . It's surprising that the movie didn't achieve any of the six Academy Award for which it was nominated ; however , it won NY Film Critics to best actress and director and British Academy gave prizes to best actress and support cast . Casting is frankly well . Good acting by Audrey Hepburn as a beautiful missionary nurse who gains the trust of the locals , not only providing medical care but dealing with African people ; this was one of Audrey Hepburn's favorite of her films and it was also one of her most financially successful . Excellent Peter Finch as a good surgeon , he doesn't quite hit it off with Gabriella at first but soon starts to develop deep affections for her . Furthermore , a nice support cast formed by notorious secondaries such as Edith Evans , Peggy Ashcroft , Dean Jagger ,Beatrice Straight ,Rosalie Crutchley , Ruth White , Barbara O'Neil , Lionel Jeffries , Colleen Dewhurst and Niall MacGinnis , among others . ¨Nun's story¨ consolidated a sub-genre about nuns or religious people in far countries , going on ¨Heaven knows , Mr Allison¨ by John Huston with Robert Mitchum Deborah Kerr , ¨The Sins of Rachel Cade¨ also produced by Henry Blanke and directed by Gordon Douglas with Angie Dickinson , Roger Moore and Peter Finch , too , and ¨A Nun at the Crossroads¨ with Rosanna Schiaffino and John Richardson , among others.

Appropriate as well as sensitive musical score by the classic Franz Waxman . Glamorous and evocative cinematography by Franz Planer , though mostly filmed on real African exteriors , in fact , the film was shot on location in Rome, Bruges, Stanleyville and a real leper colony in the Congo . The motion picture well produced by Henry Blanke was stunningly directed by Fred Zinneman. This is one of various and pleasant works , some major and minor successes of his long career as a filmmaker . He was a Hollywood veteran director, directing early movies and a long career until the 80s . With ¨The nun's story¨ Zinnemann chalked another major hit in this overlong but always absorbing tale . After acquiring the rights to Kathryn Hulme's bestselling novel, Fred Zinnemann found that no one in Hollywood had any enthusiasm towards turning it into a film, citing it as being devoid of action , but all that changed when Audrey Hepburn expressed a desire to take the lead role . Rating : 8 , Above average , well worth seeing .

The Nun's Story (1959)

I knew I would enjoy at least Audrey Hepburn, and she's fabulous. But the movie came on as a Christmas Day feature and I worried that it would have too many religious overtones. Then as the credits rolled I saw it was directed by Fred Zinnemann. Zinnemann? I wondered what would draw him to this kind of story. My expectations tripled.

I was not disappointed. This is a measured but never slow movie. It's totally beautiful, it handles the sanctity of the convent with respect, never tipping into sappy adoration. Hepburn is what you want from her, lively and independent, and this is a natural conflict in a world of discipline and loss of independence. And it's also an evolving, changing story with a couple of major twists as it goes. By the end you see very much why Zinnemann wanted to do this and I can't tell you that. See for yourself.

The conflict between self and community, between having your own opinion about something and being forced to follow a larger set of rules that might not always be best, is the core of the film. When do you rebel? When do you submit? And if you have agreed beforehand to devote your life to submission, do circumstances allow an exception? A total change of heart?

If you think this sounds boring it is not. You might give Hepburn the biggest credit here--she's a natural and you are nothing but sympathetic--but the directing the cinematography are huge, as well. Behind the camera is Franz Planar, who did such trifles as "Holiday" and "Letter from an Unknown Woman" as well as two Audrey Hepburn movies "Roman Holiday" and "Breakfast at Tiffany's." If you have seen any of these (or all) you'll know how really perfectly they are filmed, with the camera in service to the story.

The story, by the say, in "The Nun's Story" is very much the point, even beyond the moral. When does a young woman leave a loving and comfortable home and join a convent, face a loss of self and freedom, and yet still feel useful to the world? Hepburn's character (who changes names, in part of the effort to leave the past behind),wants to go to Africa to serve the needy. How this is thwarted--or not--you'll see, but you really root for her. You see her brush against her principles in every way. And you see a larger principle arise--do the right thing. And she does. It's beautiful. It ought to make you cry. It will easily engage and move you.