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Jan. 26th, 2012 05:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tree_and_leafIncidentally, I finally got round to watching Call the Midwife, which was originally brought to my attention by Sam Wollaston slagging it off. I should have taken this as a recommendation, but I actually didn't go and look for it until Fr Vice-Principal talked about it in his address at morning Mass.
Anyway, it's very good - it's the story of a newly qualified midwife in the fities who takes a job at what she thinks is a private hospital, but turns out to be a community of Anglican nuns whorun a midwifery service in Poplar.
I don't know how accurate the midwifery is, but it's a very good portrayal of a religious community as made up of actual human beings, and the rhythm of its life, sympathetically portrayed without being saccherinely pious, it's well acted, and there are a lot of believable female characters. It passes the Bechdel test without any effort.
Possibly worth noting that episode 2 (I missed the first one) contains a distressing story about a fifteen year old prostitute and a church agency's treatment of her, which while not "The Magdalene Laundries" doesn't give her anything approaching a happy ending. It's also possibly not a great watch if you're overly squeamish about childbirth, though mostly it made me intensely grateful for modern medicine. That apart, though, I'd strongly recommend it (and you can always look away at the bloody bits, they don't predominate).
Anyway, it's very good - it's the story of a newly qualified midwife in the fities who takes a job at what she thinks is a private hospital, but turns out to be a community of Anglican nuns whorun a midwifery service in Poplar.
I don't know how accurate the midwifery is, but it's a very good portrayal of a religious community as made up of actual human beings, and the rhythm of its life, sympathetically portrayed without being saccherinely pious, it's well acted, and there are a lot of believable female characters. It passes the Bechdel test without any effort.
Possibly worth noting that episode 2 (I missed the first one) contains a distressing story about a fifteen year old prostitute and a church agency's treatment of her, which while not "The Magdalene Laundries" doesn't give her anything approaching a happy ending. It's also possibly not a great watch if you're overly squeamish about childbirth, though mostly it made me intensely grateful for modern medicine. That apart, though, I'd strongly recommend it (and you can always look away at the bloody bits, they don't predominate).