I’ve just completed a re-viewing of Black Narcissus (Powell and Pressburger, 1947), and am more than ever impressed by its artistry. And what about it’s message? Even though it is somewhat discomforting, I’ve concluded that’s a good thing. Even though it feels at times like an attack upon Christian faith, I’ve decided to accept it, and welcome it, as a valid and friendly rebuke.
The story is about an attempt to start a convent in the Himalayas of India, to offer education and medical care. It is a place that is extraordinarily attractive, yet resistant, even threatening, to intruders. It is an intensified snippet of the creation. The movie offers an extravagant portrayal of the beauty, sensuality and harshness of the place and its people. This environment elicits thoughts, memories and desires that the nuns had been trying to suppress; and as with any confrontation with truth, it forces transformation. It is a confrontation that can drive some to madness, but will drive others to a closer knowledge of God.
From a Christian perspective, this story deals with the larger issue of holiness: how to be in the world, without being of the world; how to love the world without being subject to the lusts of the world (1 John 2:15-17). The message that is conveyed in Black Narcissus seems to be consistent with that of scripture: the doctrine of incarnation, and the concrete examples in Jesus’ life. He came “eating and drinking”, sharing in all that it means to be human. The call to holiness, or to “deny yourself”, is not a call to retreat from life, but to live for others. Conversely, the false holiness of isolation follows the false god of deism. Holiness is not achieved by a withdrawal from the world, motivated by self-serving fear, but by full self-giving engagement, motivated by love. The nuns in Black Narcissus were not prepared to meet the demands of this kind of holiness.
The failure of the nuns’ mission was due to their half-heartedness. They were trying to serve in practical ways, yet holding back from full engagement. In suppressing their own human fullness, they were unable to fully give themselves to those they were trying to serve. A deeper experience of the natural world, as was provided in this Himalayan convent, inspires a deeper self-questioning and self-knowledge, and in this case it made them aware of their shortcomings. As one of the characters noted, the intensity of the place forces people to take extreme positions, of either full engagement or complete withdrawal. Half-way measures are doomed.
I consider this message to be similar to that of Wender’s “Wings of Desire” or Bette Midler’s “The Rose”. It is a teaching that applies to major decisions of vocation, and it applies to the daily decisions of how to live and relate. It sometimes means simply “showing up”. Much of it is summed up in Paul’s instruction: “rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep”.