Marta comes from a very religious Catholic family with nine siblings. When she is 19 years old she makes an extremely radical life choice. She goes into the strictest of all monastic orders, Carmelites. Caramel is a contemplative or mystical monastery order, and their job is to pray. No outsiders are allowed to enter and they themselves never leave the monastery. They are silent all day, except for 45 minutes after lunch and dinner. Then they have recreation and all may speak freely. Martha will never leave the monastery, not even to visit her family. She has committed to spend his life there and in the garden is a graveyard where some nuns are already buried. She may receive visitors seven times a year in a special visiting room, where a grid parts her from the visitor.
Marta lives near the existential issues and the questions about what we do with our lives. Whether we are religious or not our morale are greatly influenced by the Christian approach. Today, when religion is becoming less relevant for many Swedes it creates a "emptyness" for us: that nothing is more important than ourselves and that we are responsible for how our lives will turn out. This is a film that arouses thoughts about the existential issues.
The film won an award for Best Television Documentary at Prix Italia 2007. Jury statement
Nunnan was awarded the Guldbagge for Best Documentary in Sweden 2007.
The film is sold on DVD in the United States and in Canada. Buy it here.
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