One really has to hand it to the early 1940's writers and filmmakers of 1943's "The Song of Bernadette", for conceiving of such a beautifully rendered and emotionally moving story, and yet, also making the film's complex and assortedly interwoven proceedings...based upon actual events, occurring and dating back to the mid-1850's France...so daring and intriguingly thought-provoking, in unveiling and expounding upon the political & religious hypocrisy and mediocrity, as evident for this specific time in history. In doing this, the film suggestively questions the concept of faith, and yet deftly turns around, and irrevocably affirms such faith, with an objectively compelling, heart and soul-affecting tale of dramatic intrigue, challenging the purest of innocence, faith and truth...with the scourges of stubborn & misguided doubt, suppression, jealousy and envy...and engaging the more tangled and provocative arenas of both religion and politics...Bernadette Soubirous...a frail, naive and simple-minded young girl, living with her struggling and impoverished family, in the mid-18th century Lourdes, France...accompanies her sister and a friend on an errand, just outside of town. On the way, she succumbs to fatigue, as the result of an asthmatic attack, lags behind, and stops to rest, while her sister continues onward, across a small ravine, in order to collect firewood. While resting near a small alcove, near the ravine, Bernadette is drawn toward the alcove by a mysterious, albeit comforting breeze, followed by an inexplicable vision on a rock-like alter...a vision of absolute wonder and beauty, in the form of a woman, dressed in robes, enshrouded by a heavenly light, and holding a rosary in her hand. Overwhelmed by the vision, which in her mind, is merely & simply as she sees it...and nothing more, Bernadette faints before the alter. When her sister finds her and revives her, Bernadette dazingly relates the wondrous sight she has witnessed, and pleads with her sister to promise not to say anything of the incident, to anyone...
Despite the solemn promise, word of the supposed 'miracle' spreads rapidly about the town, with subsequent claims that Bernadette's vision is in fact, the Virgin Mary...though Bernadette herself, continues to resign the heavenly sight, to her much simpler, innocent and naive suggestions. In light of a growing belief in her experience, and what it is assumed to represent...especially after her continued and increasingly accompanied-by-townfolk visits to the alcove, where the vision took place...Bernadette is nonetheless thought by some to be a fraud, or mentally imbalanced, by both the local clergy, as well as town's civil hierarchy. They become further concerned, as to the growing and influential effect she has upon the town's populous, especially after an initially ridiculing event, soon after wroughts yet another unexplained miracle...and the 'beautiful woman' whom only Bernadette still sees and hears, is finally claimant to a most holy name...which only serves to fuel Bernadette's allure. Subsequently, the civil authorities are forced to ban people from the alcove...including Bernadette...and begin arresting those who attempt to return. However, when respected hierarchy from other towns...even other countries...arrive to witness and experience the alcove events, volunteering themselves to the imposed arrest...as well as the occurrence of a third miraculous event...an outright and unexplained healing one...even the staunch and doubting clergy resign themselves to a measurable validity and belief, as far as Bernadette's phenomenon...
Indeed, after viewing this film, one could suggestively and idealistically conjecture some interesting response to such query, as well as script a most informative and detailed study of the unswerving faith and purity, in opposition to the contradictory hypocrisy, suppression, mediocrity and doubt, as evident of this film's time period and locale; however, that argument would be best served in an alternate forum, for another time and place. Considering these clashing elements of the story, "The Song of Bernadette" is nonetheless quite well balanced...never really 'taking sides', for lack of a better term, but genuinely and effectively giving equal focus to both sides of the equation, and letting the viewer incorporate such quandary into one's own final analysis. The film brilliantly exhues one of the defining aspects of what a movie should do...that is, to effectively touch the viewer, in some way, shape or form...in the case of this magnificent piece, it simultaneously touches the very heart, mind and soul of the viewer. Perfectly cast in the role of Bernadette, actress Jennifer Jones gives a most brilliant, sincere and flawless performance...one of unswerving conviction and compelling allure...undeniably justifying her Best Actress accolade, for that year's Oscars. Complementing her performance in the role, are equally rendered performances by Charles Bickford, Lee J. Cob, Anne Revere, Gladys Cooper and a young Vincent Price, whose occasionally narrative performance as one of the town's legal prosecutors, applicably serves as a sort of underlining documentarian, with regards to the miraculous events that occur herein, which genuinely affect his life...as well as being an overlaying observer of Burnadette's following...and subsequent prosecution & suppression...
...Twilight Time's Blu-Ray edition of the film, affords a enjoyably watchable, albeit minimally flawed viewing experience. Rendered in a squared-off 1.33:1 radio, more suitably fitted to the size of pre-HD definition televisions, it appears that T/T did the best that they could, with the print they were provided, as shown via the included restoration demo on the disc. Scratches and film grain in the less-than-perfect print are notably evident, but hardly diminishes the brilliance and detail of the film, overall. The audio clarity of the mono track is crisp...subtle, albeit spectacular, with a sweeping Alfred Newman-composed soundtrack that genuinely serves it's purpose, as soundtracks are supposed to do...and that is to further enhance the film's thematic elements, and draw the viewer into the story...
The Song beautifully compelling and moving motion picture experience, bearing a stirring, suggestively thought-provoking message, not easily forgotten...
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