The Song of Bernadette
Recommended. Age: All ages. A Catholic review of this movie for parents.
Our review
The gold standard for saint films and the top of the Lumen catalog so far. Written as a votive offering by Franz Werfel, a Jewish refugee who vowed at Lourdes to tell Bernadette's story if he escaped the Nazis. The third act turns from miracles to the redemptive meaning of suffering, which is exactly where a lesser film would have stopped. Docked one point only for Hollywood gilding around the real Bernadette.
For parents
Watch it as a family during Lent or on Feb 11 (Our Lady of Lourdes) or Apr 16 (St. Bernadette). It's 156 minutes and talky, so under-8s may not last. Afterward: why could Bernadette not have invented the phrase Immaculate Conception, defined as dogma only four years earlier? And what does Sister Vauzou's envy teach about how even religious people can resist grace?