Sunday, October 30, 2016

Call the Midwife

This is on Netflix.  It is an uplifting, edifying show about a group of midwives who working out of Anglican convent.  (I didn't know these existed.)  A mixture of Catholic nuns (not sure why this change from reality) and secular nurses provide midwifery services in the desperately poor East End of London.  You can see why the left rather went off the deep end and remains so today) when you see the deprivation and misery of the urban poor, something that our country hasn't seen in several generations.  The National Health Service is portrayed as a great boon for this population, as I do not doubt it was.

What makes this show so charming and uplifting is that it portrays a population still deeply religious in an Anglican, not terribly deep way, except for the nuns and the the secular nurses.  While addressing many issues that would become major leftist issues, it is generally done in non-arm waving sort of way, and generally remaining true to the prevailing, fairly conservative sentiments of the time.  It is unabashedly pro-life and in spite of its portrayal of poverty, still recognizes the role that poor choices play in creating poverty.

And the current midwives at Nonnattus  House watch it every week.

4 comments:

  1. I quit watching after the proabortion episode.

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  2. Not sure I would call it that; it was I think an attempt understand the terrible consequences of mistakes.

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  3. Why would you say the inclusion of nuns is "a change from reality"? There were many Catholics in Britain in that era. Millions of hungry Irish peasants migrated to Britain in the 1800s, and most of them were Catholic. There were also some very prominent Catholic noble families.

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  4. Because the book by Jennifer Worth was about her work in an Anglican order of nuns.

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