By Karen - 29 July 2021
"Sister Act", a film released in the early 1990s, was identified as a musical, comedy, and crime film. It is said to be a musical, although the heroine is a second-rate bar singer, but not even the lines are sung in the voice of music from beginning to end; it is said to be a comedy, although the film is very funny, it is not Mr. Bean style Selling jokes; it's a crime film, except for the line that Deloris is a boyfriend of the underworld leader, but there is no violent dialogue. In general, this is a classic film that combines multiple elements in one, with diverse forms and meanings.
Charm and humanity
In the film, the heroine Deloris, played by Whoopi Goldberg, is a somewhat vulgar and wild, but very sincere and kind-hearted character. It is this kind of heroine who has a distinct personality but accidentally enters the monastery, which makes the whole story full of excitement.
Deloris is very tacky. She wears the shiny clothes of a second-rate bar singer, and she speaks vulgarly at every turn. Deloris was also very wild. She expressed her thoughts very directly. She directly and fiercely opposed the fact that police officer Sude wanted to hide her in the monastery. When she first entered the monastery, she undisguisedly accused Zhaifan. Extremely unpalatable". This is why she will improve the choir. Deloris has unruly genes in her bones, and she always wants to pursue a better life.
But what makes Deloris popular is because of her sincerity and kindness. When she was the mistress of the triad leader, although she was sad that the mink coat belonged to the wife of the leader, she did not love him because of this. In the choir, I don't blame the unsuccessful moments and the inaudible nuns who play the piano and the unprofessional nuns in charge, but start from scratch and teach and encourage everyone carefully. It is her sincerity and kindness that made her the Deloris of the nuns who "we can't do without you", which makes this somewhat deviant choir shine, and makes a group of originally innocent nuns. Our lives have been sublimated.
About religion
It is undeniable that the film has a certain religious meaning. The protagonist of the story is a group of nuns. It can be said that the nuns are the smallest and most representative group of priests in the Western Christian world. For a Christian country like the United States, nuns are respected by people. The reason why Sudish wanted to hide Deloris in the monastery was because the monastery was isolated from the world. In the film, Deloris was going to die, but because neither of the two horsemen wanted to kill the nun and go to hell. Escape. The film has some discussions about religions in this world. Many people believe that religion inspires awe in people's hearts, which in turn makes people be kind to others when they do things. The choir in the film seems to be a representative of the ancient dull religious tradition. People endure the "piercing" singing because of their awe of religion. Religion is like a majestic and loving father; and the arrival of Dolaris from a side This makes religion a delightful color, and can even attract young people on the street into the church. At this time, religion seems to have a gentle and motherly meaning. Can this be regarded as an orientation that the film is trying to explain?
Inside and outside the courtyard
The biggest source of the film's comedic effect is that Deloris hides her sense of identity in the real world in a nun's costume and makes all kinds of deviant behaviors. When a wild singer meets an ascetic nun, the collision of huge differences brings a special comic effect and thinking. The singer is the closest person in the game of money and interests in the secular world. The boss of the casino and bar underworld is always a veteran fried dough stick; while the nuns are the simplest or "most boring" group of people in the society. , The sunrise and the sunset and the rest. When Dolaris sneaked out to play in the bar, two pure nuns thought she was going to "help the lost people." The secular world’s pursuit of money and interests is dazzling, but the nuns abide by clear rules and high moral standards. As the world outside the monastery develops faster and faster, the gap between the two is getting bigger and bigger, and the incompatibility between the two kinds of life becomes more and more obvious. In other words, the secular life and the moral standards seem to be slowly getting rid of Festival.
And the film tries to tell us that the two are still connected on the spiritual level of people, and it can make it easier to reconcile and coexist in the form of the two. That is to say, the pursuit of interests does not have to be intriguing and defrauding the world, nor does the respect for morality need to be oblivious to stereotypes. Just like in the film, the dean always believes that Deloris's choir is absurd and should be banned. She is the dead guard of the traditional moral form, and the bishop feels its beauty from Deloris's arrangement, and If he feels that he can carry forward, he has a more thorough vision and a sense of confidence in the present world. The dunya and morals compromise each other and promote each other, just as the yard will also be infected outside the yard. The nuns also like to eat ice cream secretly, and they like to sing on the jukebox in the bar.
music
The music in the film is undoubtedly the highlight of the film. From the bar singer's song to the choir song, they all promoted the plot very well, especially the final "I Will Follow Him", which pushed the plot to a climax at the end of the film and became an English golden song. The music in the film successfully combines chant-style singing with popular music, bringing a very different audiovisual experience to the audience.
Music song and dance film, as a kind of Hollywood film genre, is to intersperse music song and dance in the plot to promote the development of the plot or to move away from the plot as a pure spectacle display. Musical films mostly describe the deeds of musicians, singers, and musicians. The music is an organic part of the main plot, directly represented by the characters in the film, and most of them are non-interpretative. In "Sister Act", music is integrated into the carrier of the choir, which promotes the plot and brings us musical enjoyment at the same time.
In general, "Sister Act" successfully integrates a variety of elements, harmoniously setting music, love, crime, religion, etc. into it. The plot setting of the film is also very reasonable. The various funny sections in the film are very clever, and there is no lack of "American elements" that are often found in American films, such as the graffiti culture in Las Vegas, etc. The performances of the actors are mainly the heroines. Whoopi Goldberg's performance is in place and natural, fully interpreting the characteristics of the protagonist's role.
