Immaculate Heart College

Watching the documentary Rebel Hearts, I have seen how the rigid and outwardly sexist patriarchal hierarchy of the Catholic church took advantage of nuns at a time when women in general were fighting for their rights, both in their workplaces and in their homes. The film starts off with former nun Helen Kelley attending the Woman’s March in 2018 while another sister brings up the 2017 Charlottesville rally as an example of how the times haven’t changed as much as we think they have.

Rebel Hearts is a compelling from-the-heart documentary that follows The Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, a sisterhood of devoted nuns who bravely stood up to the demeaning and oppressive patriarchy of the Catholic Church to fight for the right to be treated as equals, especially with regard to education and the expression of their credo through art, particularly the controversial graphics of Sister Mary Corita Kent.

Rebel Hearts may not call up personal experiences for many who watch it, but it will foster a new understanding and respect for women in religious orders. Mostly, though, it will enlighten viewers about an amazing group of heroines who were unwilling to shrink in the face of the patriarchy that was controlling or misogynistic, and denounced their every decision as though ordained by God to do so. Hooray for these badass women. I think Mary, Mother of their God, would be proud.

Like a more positive, but no less galling, companion to Ryan White’s 2017 Netflix doc series The Keepers, director Pedro Kos’s new documentary Rebel Hearts shows Catholic Church authoritarianism and hypocrisy from the point of view of nuns. The film is a lively and informative look at Los Angeles’s Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters, an order that ran their own college in Los Feliz outside of diocese rule.