November 8, 2017 The Skanner Page 7
Arts & Entertainment
Maggie Betts: The “Novitiate” Interview
By Kam Williams
For The Skanner News
‘Thank You For Your Service’
Review
cont’d from pg 6
and none has managed to
hold down a steady job.
Adam’s worried wife
(Haley Bennett) starts
pressuring him to get
help because he not only
dropped their newborn
baby inexplicably, but
he’s constantly looking
for IEDs whenever they
drive down the street,
as if he’s still in Iraq.
Trouble is, there’s a nine-
month waiting list to see
a shrink at the VA hos-
pital, and he’s being dis-
couraged from seeking
treatment by a callous
colonel (Jake Weber)
suggesting that all he
needs to do is toughen up
a little.
Then, there’s Solo
(Beulah Koale), a Samo-
an with amnesia whose
fed up wife (Keisha Cas-
tle-Hughes) is thinking
of leaving him, despite
being pregnant. Anoth-
er buddy, Will (Joe Cole),
was dumped by his fian-
cee (Erin Darke) before
he even arrived home.
And so forth.
The plot soon thick-
ens, with things getting
worse before they get
better. But at least this
loyal band of brothers
can count on each oth-
er, if not the VA or their
loved ones for support. A
heartbreaking tale that’s
difficult to swallow since
its based purely on the
hard, cold truth.
A sobering account of
our wounded warriors’
tragic misfortunes.
Excellent HHH1/2
Rated R for sexuality,
drug use, graphic vio-
lence, brief nudity and
pervasive profanity
In English and Samoan
with subtitles
Running time: 108 min-
utes
Maggie Betts is a native New
Yorker and graduate of Princeton
University. In 2011, she completed
her first documentary, “The Car-
rier,” chronicling the plight of an
HIV+ pregnant woman in rural
Zambia. After premiering at the
Tribeca Film Festival, the film
went on to play in numerous oth-
er locales on the festival circuit.
In 2014, Maggie finished her
first short film, Engram, about
the romantic nature of memo-
ry. Here, she talks about writing
and directing “Novitiate,” which
marks her feature-length narra-
tive debut.
Kam Williams: Hi Maggie. I’m
honored to have this opportunity
to speak with you.
Maggie Betts: Oh, thank you so
much for wanting to speak with
me, Kam. Actually, it’s a pleasure.
KW: The movie’s amazing. And
congratulations on winning the
breakthrough director award at
Sundance.
MB: Thank you. Thanks a lot.
KW: What inspired you to
write “Novitiate”? After all, it
takes place before you were even
born, in the ‘60s, during a period
of upheaval in Catholicism be-
cause of the modernizing chang-
es in the church as a result of the
Second Ecumenical Council, bet-
ter known as Vatican II.
MB: It was all sort of accidental.
About six years ago, I picked up
this biography of Mother Teresa
in an airport, just because I was
curious about her. The book was
really just a collection of letters
she had written over the course
of her life. The book is beautiful.
KW: They made it into a movie
called “The Letters.”
MB: I haven’t seen the movie
yet, but I heard it’s great. All the
letters were focused on her love
relationship with God. It was in-
tense, powerful and, at times,
completely debilitating, and at
other times, completely uplifting.
The book was truly a love story.
I had never really conceptual-
ized the fact that someone could
have an intense and complicated
love relationship with God. And
I hadn’t even known that nuns
were married to God. So, just that
one concept, which really moved
me, inspired me to do lots and
lots of research. I started reading
memoirs by ex-nuns.
KW: I would guess they’re pret-
ty rare.
MB: No, there are way more than
you would ever imagine. Most
of the more popular ones were
coming-of-age memoirs written
by women who left right around
the time of Vatican II. Initially, I
was just curious about the lives of
nuns, so I bought all these books.
But then Vatican II emerged as an
Maggie Betts
inescapable element of that histo-
ry and that story, sort of like the
result of the domino effect of the
research.
KW: Well, the film certainly
feels very authentic, as it offers
such a rich and revealing look
into this Sister Cathleen’s life. It
made me think it might be based
on a real-life person.
MB: It took all the common ele-
ments out of 30 or 40 biographies.
The nuns’ individual stories are
very different, yet there are cer-
tain themes that run throughout.
So, I kinda compiled all these
memoirs and created my own
story from their common experi-
ences by exploring the common
See INTERVIEW on page 11