Lourdes is one of modern Catholicism's most famous pilgrimage sites. Before the 1850s it was an ordinary town in the French Pyrenees. In 1858 a young girl, Bernadette (now Saint Bernadette) saw the Virgin Mary in a grotto. The Holy Mother appeared several times over the following days and weeks, at one point commanding Bernadette to drink from a spring and eat bitter herbs as an act of penance for sinners. Crowds began following Bernadette to the grotto, who witnessed the first act of healing there: a girl with a dislocated arm was healed by the waters of the spring. In 1862 the Catholic church officially recognized the apparitions as valid, and today millions of pilgrims journey to the Grotto every year. A candlelight procession culminating in a Mass has been celebrated Every evening since 1872. Another ceremony shown in the film that may not be familiar to non-Catholic viewers is the Blessed Sacrament Procession; the Sacrament, preceded by the sick seeking healing, is taken to the Underground Basilica of St. Pius X. This ritual culminates in the Blessing of the Sick.
The story follows a group of pilgrims who have come to visit the holy site, some wheelchair bound, others able bodied but elderly, as well as a team of sharply dressed volunteers to tend to their needs. The story focuses on one young woman in particular, who we find out has multiple sclerosis and is capable only of sitting up and speaking. She depends entirely on the volunteers to feed and dress her, put her in bed, and even take her to the bathroom. While she says that she goes on pilgrimages for a chance to get out and see the world, it becomes clear that she is seeking a physical healing (despite the counsel of the priest and others on the trip, who reiterate the importance of seeking healing for the soul).
The driving questions of the film center around this story: do miracles happen? Can the waters, caves, and rituals of a place like Lourdes really heal people? Why are some healthy and others ill? Why is one person healed, while countless others continue to suffer? Do the works of those seeking miracles (lighting candles, praying at shrines, going to confession, and countless other manifestations of piety) count for anything?
A diverse cast of characters helps the viewer consider these questions of faith. One young volunteer chose to come to Lourdes instead of skiing in order to find a sense of purpose, but her best intentions are waylaid by the distractions of a trio of dashing male helpers. One old man seeks only the company and warmth of human affection, and is desolate at the thought of being alone again at the end of the trip. Two women, who have nothing terribly wrong with them, continually speculate about reported miracles; they seem to motivated by curiosity more than anything else. Another older volunteer makes skeptical jokes about the shrine, but expresses a desire to really believe. Perhaps the most intriguing character is an elderly woman who takes a keen interest in the main character; she takes her to the front row to be blessed during Mass, pushes her wheelchair through the cave and to the baths, and rarely if ever takes her eye off of this young woman. Despite this solicitous care, she is never thanked and is only barely acknowledged by the other helpers.
Lourdes does not feature a traditional score. Instead there are two devotional pieces played repeatedly throughout the film: Ich ruf zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ (by J S Bach, BWV 639), and a beautiful setting of Ave Maria by Franz Schubert. These pieces are evocative of the pleading of the pilgrims at this famous shrine to the Virgin Mary; although written centuries apart, they each have a bittersweet quality that illustrates the dichotomy between human suffering and the comfort of faith more poignantly than any dialogue could. Bach's famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor is also featured, and the film closes with a jarring pop song that pulls the viewer back into the secular world as the pilgrims and volunteers end their trip.
Lourdes does not end with any kind of closure or sure answers, for the characters or for the viewer. Instead it offers a chance to meditate on faith and miracles in a modern world.
Lourdes will be shown one more time today at International Cinema at 5 pm.
