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Then: Sylvie next to one of the nuns when she enters the correction center for "lost girls"
Les Diablesses is a harsh two-hour film of "lost girls", adolescents who were sent to correction homes to be retrained back into the ways of proper society in 1950s and 60s France. Some of these girls were pregnant out-of-wedlock, and even after the adoption of their infants they were sent there for a period of time. Others were just considered too rebellious, often because of furtive relationships without parental consent. They often stayed in these homes until they were adults at 21 years of age. These correction centers were eventually phased out in the 1970s.
The film was based on testimonies of women who actually stayed in these homes. I have to admit that some of these stories were pretty hard to take. I wondered if the filmmaker inflated them up a notch for dramatic purposes. The other possibility is, of course, like the stories behind residential school abuses, liberal filmmakers find any way they can to undermine traditional societies, which are simply trying to dampen or eliminate foreign and antagonistic elements. Young, unmarried girls having sexual relations and getting pregnant certainly constitute foreign and antagonistic elements to traditional society.
The nuns in the center were depicted as incredibly callous, cold-hearted women. I wonder if this was really the case, or if it is the distorted view of some lapsed Catholic liberal director? These nuns were given the unpleasant job of disciplining girls who were temporarily rejected by their families, and they certainly had to be strict to keep their convent safe and orderly. The girls, despite their internment, did have moments of happiness, and their adventurous nature does come out in fugues from the center, and other small pranks. Some even stayed on despite offers of release, since they had already made friends in these homes.
But traditional society has always been harsh. Factors that will undermine or diminish its position have always been dealt with briskly and without sentimentality. Yes, the girls had to live a difficult life for a while in these centers (and possibly even beyond), but they cannot be an example for other young girls in the outside world. Deviations from accepted rules of society will result in hard if not brutal consequences. Otherwise, the whole foundation of society will start to crumble - fatherless children, single mothers, what next? Well now, in our modern nightmare, we have eliminated marriage and parenthood to such an extent that single women are having children from anonymous sperm donors.
I wonder (again) if these proponents of correction centers for rebellious girls (and rebellious usually meant sexually rebellious) ever imagined such a society as ours? Where girls are not only supported for having illegitimate children, but their adult female mentors are having illegitimate children without even a father in sight.
These were the questions that should have been discussed by the Palin's family before their eldest daughter was allowed to attend national political conventions five months pregnant, and in full view of the whole country. Each and every adolescent girl who watched those moments will surely decide that a boyfriend who gives you a big belly is nothing to worry about. And those adoring Palin fans, the parents, instead of a frank dismissal of and a harsh warning against such behavior, decided that they would go for Palin-fever, and even produced videos such as this.