Film Studio D, the Women’s Studio of the National Film Board has done it again. Their latest project, viewed for the first time, in Toronto on December 1, 1984, is called “Behind the Veil.”
Willing participants who provided fuel from within the ranks for this attack upon the “Male, Patriarchal, Sexist” Catholic Church were Sisters Ann Carr, Beth Daddio and Sue Seeker. “We are angry, angry women” said one of them, indicating the tone and gist of this two hour so-called “docu-drama.” The same studio produced the anti-American films Nicaragua: Dream of a Country and If you love this planet; the attempt to cure pornography, Not a love Story; and two pro-abortion films, Abortion: Stories from North and South and Democracy on Trial: The Morgentaler Affair (see review in November issue of The Interim).
“Behind the Veil” began with the “history of Repression,” detailing the “horrors” of nuns’ lives, the “awful” penances, the “humiliations” such as placing a crown of thorns upon their head at the time of final vows.
Pagan female leaders
Each “repressive” incident acted as an example of the dominant themes, notably, that “the road to Rome is a dead-end street” for women. Indeed, only the men have any power to ascend to the hierarchy. Women remain on the sidelines with little chance of obtaining a position of authority.
Power; Authority; Control! Such are the adjectives most predominantly used throughout the duration of the film. Much time is devoted to extracting isolated incidents from the history of ‘mankind’ and that of the ‘church’ to show that at one time women were in positions of Authority. The fable of Pope Joan during the reign of Pope Benedict III (855-858) was a typical extraction to support this thesis. In the bright earlier days the goddesses were predominant, we are told, creating a matriarchal society with strong female leadership. But this was gradually insidiously, eroded. In terms of the church, this meant that the male clerical ‘caste’ began to organize to the extent that today’s church has become a patriarchal ‘institute.’
If you are unhappy with being a woman …
All the statements in the film are based on pseudo-factual evidence. For instance, it is argued that church laws have been derived to a large extent from the teachings of Aquinas, the man who is supposed to have borrowed Aristotle’s idea that women are deformities. With such notions about women, the male clergy chipped away at what little power the female religious had in the middle-ages, as, for example, the right of abbesses to hear confessions. With this privilege rescinded by the male institutional church, women’s power has been further eroded to its present-day condition.
“Behind the Veil” sets out to prove that the church, as a “male bastion,” suppresses all women. By focusing on the so-called sexist language used in the liturgy as well as the church’s “ultra-conservative” views on birth control and sexuality, it is argued that the church is in grave danger of collapse. In a bitter and unforgiving manner the nuns who participated in this film state that the church is “sexist” and, therefore, “in a sinful state.” In their eyes, such a sinful state is perpetuated by Mary, who consoles women in their suppression. (Mary is the ever-serving passive woman).
To those women who feel discriminated against and are unhappy with their role, this two-hour film may prove attractive to their battered ego. For those who are reasonably content with their mode of lifestyle, this film is ludicrous and boring.
