Sister Act with Nithya Raman

Attention Los Angeles residents! And also everyone! Special guest and LA City Council District 4 candidate Nithya Raman joins us for a discussion about her platform and Sister Act! Check out NithyafortheCity.com! 

(This episode contains spoilers)

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
On the Bedel Cast, the questions asked if movies have
women in them, are all their discussions just boyfriends and husbands,
or do they have individualism? The patriarchy ze invest start
changing it with the Betel Cast. Welcome to the Bechtel Cast.
My name is Jamie Loftus, my name is Caitlin Darante,
and you know the deal. This is our podcast about

(00:23):
the portrayal of women in movies. We use the Bechtel
test as a jumping off point to initiate a larger conversation,
treatment and representation. Yes, Jamie, have a question. Yes, please?
What is the Bechtel Test? Oh? I'm so glad? Do
you asked her? It was like three years later. I'm like,
I don't understand it. What have you said it? And

(00:44):
then I was like, that's not fair, sames, unrestupid. Well
okay for Jamie fruit just you from my reference. Yes,
it is a media metric created by cartoonist Alison Bechtel,
sometimes called the Bechtel Wallace test, in which two female
identifying characters with names must speak to each other about

(01:04):
something other than a man, and by our metric, it
has to be at least a two line exchange of dialogue, right,
I think it'd be easy. Usually it's not. I mean,
look at the Oscar nominees. Well what if so I
hope someone like slides into our d M s and
it's like Ford v. Ferrari pass the Bechdel test. You eve,
but I didn't see it. What if it did? What if?

(01:25):
What if the cars identifies, you know, and they rammed
each other? Boats do canonically canonically, But I don't know.
We'll see. Yeah, if anyone knows if Ford v. Ferrari
passed the Beckdel test? What a wild ride? That movie?
What ride? Yeah? Because cars? Because cars, you know what
cars are. I'm really excited for both their guests and

(01:49):
the movie we're covering today. We've been getting this request
since we started the show, and we were just kind
of just waiting for the for the for the right
guests to come along. So I'm very excited. We're doing
Sister Act. We're doing Sister Act. We're gonna deviate a
little bit from the format because our guests. We're gonna
ask some questions, an interview a little bit. We gotta
get to know where you go. Because she is an

(02:12):
urban planner, a community advocate. She served as executive director
of Time's Up Entertainment, and currently she is running for
Los Angeles City Council District four are election where it's
literally sitting. It's in District four at this very moment,
the election for which is on March three. It's Nythia Rahman. Hi, welcome, Hi,

(02:35):
I'm so happy to be here. Okay, we're also just
for our listeners. Were recording literally at Caitlin's house in
District four right now. I mostly came because I think
both of the our constituents, So yeah, one podcast. It's
a real grassroots movement. So if you're an l A

(02:57):
listener and you live in that district, perc your ears
up extra. But everyone just okay, yeah I did. They
were so excited you're here. We're so happy. We're big
fans likewise, so um yeah, I want to just start
about by talking about what motivated you to run for
city council. What what you know made the decision to

(03:18):
leave your day job and uh start campaigning. Well, it
was not It's definitely not something I've been thinking about
my whole life, so it was a big decision for me. Um.
I also have two little kids. I have four year
old twins. They're very cute right now after initial hard,
hard period when they were infants, but now they're they're people.

(03:39):
They're adorable, they're so fun and the campaign takes me
away from them a lot um. And I left a
very good job at a very exciting job at times
up to come do this. But I'm running for two reasons.
One is I was pretty angry about how the city
was responding to the issue of homelessness, uh and the
broader housing crisis that homeless this is just you know,

(04:01):
one part of and I I started a homeless coalition
in my neighborhood. I worked at city Hall a few
years ago and wrote a report about the city's response
on homelessness. And my report at that time found that
the city was already spending more than a hundred million
dollars on homelessness, but that the majority of the money
was actually going to putting homeless individuals in jail and

(04:22):
then releasing them, a policy which is both incredibly cruel
and ineffective. So you can see by the growth of
homelessness in Los Angeles five years later. At that time
there were twenty three thousand people experiencing homelessness. Now there's
almost thirty seven thousand in the city of Los Angeles,
so it's grown by fourteen thousand and five years, which

(04:43):
is a staggering increase. And to me, you know, I
left city hall. I had twins, I left the workforce
for a little while. But while I was at home,
I helped start this homeless coalition in my neighborhood which
actually serves Los Filas as well, uh and it's called CELA.
We started as a group of neighbors who were get
together doing volunteer outreach and getting to know people who
lived on the streets and in our neighborhoods. So Los

(05:06):
Fila's Silver Lake Echo Park, a bunch of neighborhoods that
were right near the river. There's a lot of encampments
near the river, and these were all our areas where
there were no people experiencing homelessness living out outdoors before
at all. This was new, and so I think a
group of people who were like, what do we do?
You know, this is happening, and we don't know what
to do. We got together and started doing outreach and

(05:26):
we would go out and talk to people who were
living in encampments get to know them by name, we'd
bring food and water, and we would try and learn
from them, you know, more about them and their stories
and how they ended up there, but also what was
preventing them from getting back into stable housing. And as
we learned about the situation that they experienced on the ground,
what we realized was that the city had made it

(05:47):
incredibly difficult once they were experiencing homelessness for them to
actually get back into housing. So in that whole region,
so we served an area stretching from Los Filas all
the way to Cyprus Park, So if you know l A,
that's a huge area of the city. There was no
walk in shelter beds, There was not a single shower
that they could go use. There was not a really
a bathroom where they were welcomed. There was not a

(06:08):
drop in case manager. Like if you wanted help and
you wanted to talk to somebody to get the help
that you needed, whether it be case management work, whether
it be mental health support, whether it be addiction counseling,
whatever it is that you needed help with, it was
not available for you anywhere in this entire area. So
I started looking at the system that we had created

(06:29):
around homelessness and I knew this from my work at
city Hall, but it was made so much more real
to me once I was looking at it from the
perspective of someone who was actually experiencing homelessness. Was that
the system we set up in l A was not
really designed to help people. It was designed basically by
people who don't care about this issue. And I just thought, here,
I am, I have a full time job, I have

(06:50):
two little kids, and all these other volunteers who are
weren't running the SELA program also do. And we kept
asking the city for a drop in center with a
shower and uh you know, a hot meal and access
to case management for the area. They ignored us. They
wouldn't even meet with us, Our council members wouldn't even
really meet with us. Finally, we did it ourselves. We

(07:10):
raised money, we we applied for grants, we held a fundraiser,
and we started operating a one day a week drop
in center, which has now grown to four sites, yeah
in in Silver Lake. And I just started thinking, if
the people who were in power felt any amount of
the sense of urgency that I do, and that you know,
all of these other volunteers did around this issue, I

(07:31):
think we would just be facing a very different situation
in Los Angeles. So that's when I started thinking about
running UM. And I'm you know, I'm trained as an
urban planner. I've thought about cities, and I've worked on
cities for pretty much my entire career except for my
time at times up so and the more I thought
about it, the more it made sense. And then the
second reason is actually that I wanted to run, was
because this election is actually an incredible opportunity, Like we

(07:55):
have a chance right now to invite a lot more
people into the municipal election, which is historically had very
very low participation rates in Los Angeles. Now it's going
to coincide with the federal election for the first time,
so it's on Super Tuesday. Yeah, and I'm sure everyone's
planning to vote on Super Tuesday, So we have an
opportunity to invite a lot more people into the municipal
political process to say, like, when you're going out there

(08:16):
and voting for whoever you want to vote for, you
should care about this and you can transform what you
see around you, like what you look, what you see
on the streets, and of l a, what you see
here right now. If this is not acceptable to you,
and I know it's not to most people. Our message
to them is you have a moment right now to
completely transform. It's so exciting. We're very, very very grateful

(08:38):
you're running because truly like every like um, I mean
you can you can check out Nathia's website and Nadia
for the city dot com for all of your policies
in detail. But it just it seems like it's just
stands to improve literally, I mean, everyone's life in district force.
So we're excited about it. Um. I think something that
our listeners are always trying to figure out, um, how

(09:01):
to do, is is do you have any I guess
advice for like the average citizen who's just trying to
be more involved and be more engaged in local issues especially.
I think that yeah, like you were saying that, I
mean super Tuesday, Um, is such a huge opportunity for awareness. Um,
what can the average person do to be engaged specifically

(09:22):
in l A or anywhere. I mean, let's let's go
for l A. Well, I think, yeah, I would just
dig into a little bit more this idea that part
of the reason why we have an l A that
feels right now incredibly hostile to lower income residents, whether
it be looking through how we serve our homeless residents,

(09:43):
or whether it be looking at how we're dealing with
a massive increase in rental prices that has far outpaced incomes,
Like our city can do a lot to help tenants,
our city can do a lot to help people who
are on the verge of becoming homeless. And over and
over again, they have looked away from those powers and responsibilities.

(10:05):
And I feel like, I think if you're somebody who's
living in l A particularly, I think it's really important
to understand what powers are local officials have, whether it
be at the council or whether it be at the supervisors,
and get involved in those races and make sure that
we're voting in candidates whose values you believe in and trust,

(10:26):
because right now, we have a political system in Los
Angeles that's really ossified, you know it is. It's like
like I've been interacting with it now and it feels
like you're up against some It's like whenever I deal
with any aspect of the traditional system, it feels like
I have gone back in time to three decades. Terrifying.

(10:47):
It's like all men like, there's only two elected representatives
out of eighteen total electives at City Hall, so fifteen
council members and city attorney, mayor and a city controller,
so only two out of those out of that teen
our women. It's just like very clubby culture where everybody
knows each other, but just a little bit of engagement

(11:07):
from residents could completely transform that and it has so
in recent weeks and months we've seen both of the
city and the county that advocacy by either homelessness advocates
who want to see a reduction in punitive responses to
homelessness and push for a more compassionate response have shown

(11:29):
up at city Hall and protested and changed policy, which yeah,
which is incredible. And then at the county level, we've
seen this huge criminal justice reform movement that has actually
stopped the construction of a three point five billion dollar
meant it was called a mental health jail. I mean
it was a mental health facility, but it was really
another big jail. And now there have another measure on

(11:50):
the ballot called Measure Are, which everyone should get informed about.
But in both of those situations, we've seen that involvement
engagement by residents can change things and it doesn't take uch,
you know. So if you can show up to like one,
get on a mailing list, show up to one protest,
you know, and just having those numbers, invite a couple
of friends to it, and then go to brunch afterwards,

(12:11):
it yeah, exactly, you know. So so even little things
like I I love doing service, like I love the
idea of and we invite lots of volunteers in the
coalition that I started here in silver Lake and Los
VELAs to come in and make food or too, you know,
set up that whole shower program that we do weekly,

(12:31):
and that's a great opportunity. But if you want to
change the systems that result in us having to do
that kind of volunteer work week after week, then you
have to go to city Hall or you have to
go to the Board of Supervisors and like show up
in protest and make the change that's going to change
the system. So that's what I would say to people
who are getting involved, is like, get informed and get
involved in advocacy because that can transform the city. Absolutely. Okay, cool,

(12:56):
thank you so much. It was I feel like I'm
talking We're way too long this We are asking you questions.
But that's how that works. You shouldn't have a sign
or something where you're like, you know, just like scrite
your nose and you're like, we're also, I mean, just
because of what our show is about, We're we're curious

(13:16):
about your time with time's up. And um, what what
was that experience like in what coming from city hall
to being a stay at home mom to going two
times of what sort of brought you there? Um? What
brought me there was not particularly exciting. I just somebody
sent me the job listing, and but I think they

(13:37):
wanted me because I'm guessing I don't have a lot
of insight, but I think they were excited about the
fact that I had taken advocacy and transformed it into
either concrete programs or concrete policy changes in the past,
and I think they were hoping that I could do
something similar there, which, UM, I'm very proud to say
that we did so. In the in the year a

(14:00):
little more than a year that I was the e D,
we put together this incredible mentorship program for the executive
and producer pipeline. Um. Yeah, and we actually took the
money for that came out of Less Moon Vesta's settlement
love that knife. So we had an opportunity to apply
for that money. So I was like, we have this

(14:22):
amazing program already in place. I applied for that funding
and we were able to set it up and it
was incredible. We have an incredible group of people who
are associated with it, but essentially supports people who don't
necessarily have the industry connections as who are assistants or
junior executives in that pipeline and gives them this incredible

(14:42):
network and an intensive mentorship relationship to help them move ahead.
And it was a really cool program. And it's also
it has a very unique thing which I think is
relevant in the context of this pay up Hollywood, you know,
this movement to talk about how a little. So we
had a ten tho dollar stipend in program that would
be given to anyone who was selected for it, because

(15:04):
we knew that if you came in and we're getting
paid minimum wage or whatever these you know, agencies or
production companies pay you, you wouldn't necessarily have the money
to go out and have drinks, which is where you
like make the relationships that get you, you know. So
I think it was a program that was designed really
well but also really acknowledge the realities of Hollywood and

(15:26):
what it takes to get ahead in the industry. Um.
And we had a couple of other week just released
these resources for performers on sets telling you exactly what
your rights are when you go out and do an audition. Yeah,
and we that we compiled all these resources from different
places and I kicked started that project and it was
released after I left. But it was very very important

(15:47):
to me that people who were new to the industry
knew not just what their rights were, but where they
could turn if they needed help. So we did that. UM.
But I would say my broader experience of being at
times up was really fascinating because as an relative outsider
to the entertainment industry and someone who had come from
an advocacy nonprofit background, I was and I don't know

(16:07):
whether your experience you're both like in then you consider
yourselves in the industry, right, yes, yeah, well I maybe,
I mean I would be curious about your experience, But
I felt like the industry is really conservative. I mean
I think, yeah, it feels like a vested interest in
like making it not look that way. But then once

(16:27):
you actually start to talk to people, You're like, oh,
this is actually very fucked up interesting, Okay, cool. Yeah,
And I think like the Times Up moment and movement
and the me too activism and a lot of organizing
that's now happened not related to Times Up necessarily, although
some of it did happen under the Times Up umbrella
around like women of color coming together or different groups

(16:49):
that have kind of been ignored or left out in
some ways. I feel like that is pushing for some changes.
But I was kind of surprised at how conservative the
industry was and how a lot of it I think
is related to the way in which you get a job,
so you tolerate abuse because if you speak out, not
just sexual misconduct, but any like just like somebody yelling

(17:11):
at you or throwing stuff from whatever, aggressively long working
hours or whatever it is, because your next job depends
on this person's referral, right, And that's that's basically like
you're a freelancer, but you're in a union if you're lucky, Yeah,
if you're lucky, but it and in a fairly small
industry where everybody knows each other. And that's just a
recipe for I think really bad can be a recipe

(17:33):
for really bad working conditions. So I was really excited
to be in a position where we were bringing workers
together and talking about workers rights, you know. And I
think it sometimes entertainment industry people didn't think about themselves
as workers and didn't think about themselves as having workers
rights because that's like a different you know. And so
it's like exciting to be like, hey, you're a writer,
but that's work. Yeah, that's where you deserve to be

(17:55):
treated in a particular way. So it was it was cool.
It was a really exciting moment in Yeah, history, I
guess exciting to be a part of it and play
some small role in in it. That's so amazing. Yeah,
is there is there anything else you would like for
us to touch on before we start talking sister act?
And I guess I would just say to the residents
of Los Angeles, Yes, you look around. You see a

(18:17):
city that I think is really struggling. We have a
massive homelessness crisis. We have rising rents, we have bad air,
we have unsafe streets, and I could go on and
on and on, but all of these things are solvable,
and all of these things are completely surmountable if we
have the right people in office. And I'm here to
tell you that you deserve better, and I feel like

(18:40):
that probably applies to most cities in the US, Like,
it's not this is not an l A specific thing. There.
If you don't live in l A, get informed, damn
deserve better too. Yes, I can't wait to vote for you.
So thank you for happy that you're here. Um. Oh,
and I had one I had one fun question, okay,
which is, okay, so you have two young kids at um,

(19:01):
what is something that you like because we're always trying
to like our whole show is just basically like the
media that messed with our brains as children and talking
about it now, is there something that you can watch
for your kids that you're like, I feel good about this.
So my kids actually only have watched with any desire.

(19:21):
Two things. One is Daniel Tiger, which is the cartoon
does derived from Mr Rogers Neighborhood. It is so simplistic
and it's so sweet and lovely and it's so boring.
But I can't I can't have you see it. Yeah,
like babysat kids watching Daniel Tiger and like, well, nothing,

(19:44):
you know, it's nothing bad is happening, but what is happening? Right? Um?
And the only other thing that they watch and I
have a boy and a girl, boy and girl twins,
and the only other thing that they watch is Frozen. Alright,
I mean that's we've covered that. You know it does
pretty well, sister ed you love to see it. Uh so,

(20:05):
I mean we're always just looking to because we're like,
we don't know what to recommend to parents who listened
to the show. Um so if you if you haven't
heard of Daniel Tiger or Frozen, now are the two
humans in America who haven't heard of froz? Yes, you
gotta check it out. People can't can't stop talking about it.

(20:29):
I haven't did you see this? I didn't see the
second one. I did see the second one from Molina
voices of character, There's there's an interesting conversation to be
had about that movie as well. Maybe we'll get to
it someday. All right, great, in the meantime, listen to
our Frozen one episode. Everybody. Actually, I'll down I didn't
know you had done for I'll download that and listen

(20:49):
to it. But but now let's let's let's pivot into
the rest of the show. We're talking about Sister app
that's right before we do. Let's take a quick break first,
and then we'll be right back. We're back. Okay, So
we're talking Sister Act. It's a movie. It can what

(21:11):
what's a movie? Now? Hold on, now, hold on, bear
with me. We're today, we're talking about we're talking about
a feature length film. Uh. It came out in It
stars Whoopie Goldberg. It's called Sister Act. Uh. Nittia, what
is your experience with this movie? When did you first
see it your relationship? Shoot, I don't even I've seen

(21:34):
it so many times. I was rewatched it before coming
here today, and I realized I knew lines, I knew
you know, like I have watched you know, I've just
it's been so much a part of like rerun go
Home on the couch, Oh, Sister Acts on. I'm gonna
watch it again from I'm like, if if anyone has

(21:55):
ever just like had TBS, you've seen this movie, Like
there there were certain moments where I had, like I
have a similar experience with it where I really liked
it when I was a kid, and then just like
as I got older, I just would like see it
every once in a while until like some point in
the movies I'm like, oh, that's a commercial break, you know,
like like that kind of movie that's on TV all

(22:17):
the time. Yeah, I don't know. I never watched it
with like any critical lens before. I just was like,
I like it, and I was so pleasantly surprised watching
it with a critical lens. There's so much to love
about this movie. So it's just romp and had a
ten on the Caitlin Rompo Meter What's your History. I

(22:38):
had seen it, I believe once when it came out
at a drive in movie theater. I would have been
about six. That sounds like such a fun but because
I was, well, here's the thing, I was young and rambunctious,
and because we were in the confines of a car
and not like in a theater where we had to
respect other people's you know, time and attention, I don't

(22:59):
think I paid any attention to the movie. Um whoopsies.
So I felt like I hadn't really seen this movie
for the first time until about a year ago, and
I was like, I haven't seen I've seen doubt that
others not the Yeah, the Sister movie. It's a Sister
Act is there was I have a whole thing because
I was like, maybe, unfortunately Doubt is for some reason

(23:21):
one of my favorite movies. It's so depressing, but there's
the right reaction that yeah, that is I really I
don't like. I came out when I was fifteen, and
I saw it in theaters twice. Why. I couldn't tell you, um,
but there were a lot of them like, oh, this
is just like Doubt without all the problems. Yeah, it
really is. You've got your maryl character, You've got your

(23:41):
Amy Adams character, thankfully you don't have your Philippine war
Hoffman character. And that's the makings of a fun movie. True.
So yeah, I had only seen this movie really for
the first time until like about a year ago, um,
because I was like, I can't have I never seen
do I what is Sister Act? So I watched it
and I was like, what a fun movie? Like I

(24:03):
didn't realize that was the story. I thought that like
Whoopi Goldberg was already a nun. I didn't realize that
she was like in hiding as a nun. So I
was like, oh, what fun I do? I do always
forget that there is a murder Writers and then like
two seconds later the music gets very silly. Yes, yes,
it's like they're like, oh, she's got to get out
of there. It's like do do do? Do Do? Do? Right?

(24:26):
The nineties were wild? Okay, so should do the recap
and we'll go from there. Okay, So we first see
Dolores van Cartier. That's, of course Whoopi Goldberg as a
kid in Catholic school. She's not taking it seriously. We
cut to her as an adult. Then she's a lounge
singer in Reno, Nevada. Ever heard of it? Sort of?

(24:49):
I hadn't really seen. I'm like, this movie made me
want to go to Reno. I've never been. Um, I've
seen a lot of seasons of Reno one and that
makes me not want to go to Reno. I would agree, Yeah, yeah,
isn't that where you go to get like an old
timey divorce or something that used to be like the
hot spot for like I think you can have to
go anywhere in Nevada, right, I think so? I think

(25:13):
that like that was I feel like I've I don't know,
I think that's the movie. The women they go to Reno,
I think, yes, they do that movie is so weird. Yeah,
we have to do it someday. Anyway, if you want
to get married very quickly or divorced very quickly, go
to Nevada anyway. So that's where she's based and she
is together with Vince Laracca. That's Harvey Kitel's character, playing

(25:36):
the type fame. But everywhere, um, he has his wife,
he's he's married to someone else, uh, and doesn't want
to leave her for Dolores. So she's like, screw it,
I'm leaving you and I'm getting out of here. But
right when she goes to tell him that she's leaving,
she witnesses him and his goons murdering another goon of his. So,

(25:56):
not wanting any witnesses to his crime, Vince sends his
goons after Dolores to kill her, and then the fun
music starts playing. She's like, yeah, she gets out, she
gets away. She goes to the police and they're like, wait,
you're with Vince Laracca. He's this big organized crime guy

(26:18):
and we're trying to put him away. So if you're
willing to testify, we can do that. In the meantime,
we have to put you in witness protection until this
court date you got the movie, there's got to be
a movie. So Lieutenant Souther puts her in a convent
in San Francisco and she has to pretend to be
a nun and the high jinks in Sue Baby, Um

(26:41):
Reverend Mother, they's so good. Reverend Mother played by Maggie Smith.
She's the only one who knows who Dolores really is,
and everyone else in the convent thinks that she is
a nun named Sister Mary Clarence. She's basically Mary all
in doubt for all my Doubta Smiths, she's your Oh yes,

(27:07):
that's I see. I couldn't have remembered that. And it's
allegedly my favorite movie. Um. So she meets the other nuns,
including Mary Patrick who is Cathy and Jimie. She's very cheerful,
and then there's a young nun who is dressed differently
and I don't know enough about Catholicism to know why.
I don't know either. She is a Sister Mary Robert Jr. Nun. Yeah,

(27:33):
it's like when you're like a brownie and then like
a junie, and like a daisy, and then a brownie
and then a Catholic or like shot just like the
Girl Scouts. Basically the Catholic church. It operates, uh, just
like Horrible the Girl Scouts. And then we see them
in like the church service. The nuns are singing and acchoir.

(27:54):
They're really bad. No one's attending the services. Reverend Mother
doesn't want any of the nun is going outside because
it's a dangerous neighborhood I guess, or she she thinks
it is um And then Dolores is trying to adjust
to all of this, but she's not good at being
a nun. Believe she was born to stand out. Meanwhile,

(28:16):
Vince realizes that Lieutenant South there must have Dolores, so
he puts out like a hit on her for a
lot of money. So now a bunch of like sleazy
bad guys are out looking for her. And then there's
a rat in the police department. Someone is leaking info
to the bad guys. Like plot, they're just like I
guess I just mostly want to see the nuns. Yeah,

(28:38):
I guess there's got to be a climax to the movie. Yeah.
And then back at the convent, Reverend Mother is like, hey, Dolores,
since you have a background of music, you're going to
join the choir and she does it sound like a
punishment and like that sounds like the best part of
being a nun. And she helps the nuns become better singers.

(28:59):
She kind helps update the music choices, she's mixing genres,
she's giving I love that like long scene where she's
like coaching them and they're listening and she's, Oh, it's
so good. And then because their music is so exciting
now it's bringing people into the church and people are

(29:19):
actually fill the butts, are filling the seats. There's very
like moments where you know, like in a movie where
they're like young people enter and they're dressed in a
very like young person way. There's a lot of young
people enter moments, and the and the reverence like, oh,
young people are entering, Welcome young I was like, oh, man,

(29:42):
it's like I don't know what the costume design situation was,
but I'm like, oh, definitely a young person palette going
on here. What was also weird was that I feel
like style has come back around so that when the
young people entered, I was like, I want that right.
And this also, this movie takes place in San Francisco.
I spent a lot of time being like, where are they.
I don't like, we were just my boyfriend and I

(30:03):
were just like they could be. Um, I don't know,
I didn't guess San Francisco. And then at some point, yeah,
I think there was a shot at the Golden Gate Bridge. Yeah,
and so that was the only yeah, right. And it's
also at this time that they're going out into San Francisco,
into the neighborhood and their help trying to turn it around.

(30:23):
There's a porn store and they're like, don't go in here.
And then then the pope hears about how good the
choir is, and he's like, I'm gonna come see a
concert because popes are are good. They're good, and they
they're fine, they're fine, great judges of music. Yeah, for sure,
I was like, this is a this is a happening, Pope, right.

(30:45):
But it's also at this time when Lieutenant Southor is like, hey,
we got you your court date, Dolores. You don't have
to really be in the convent anymore. But then it's
also at this point where Vince finds out where Dolores
is because because of the mall right, and then you're like, right,
the it pays off, so shocked. I forgot. Yeah, So

(31:12):
Vince sends his goons to kidnap Dolores and bring her
back to Reno, and then the nuns find out that
Dolores isn't actually a nun, so then they chartered a
helicopter to fly to Reno to help save her. And
then there's this whole big chase scene Dolores punches the
d goons and the nuts j hijinks more silly music,

(31:38):
and then finally the cops stop the bad guys and
arrest them, and then the nuns go back to San
Francisco to their concert for the poem and he loves
it standing ovations so good. And then at the end
I forgot the end, there's like that freeze frame and
then it switches to a People magazine and it's like,

(31:59):
guess what like Witness Protection None or whatever it is.
It's like, what a silly, fun way to end a movie.
So yeah, that's the story. That's the story. Where should
we start? I just wanted to start with a fun
fact that I learned, yes, which is the actor who
plays Pope John Paul the Second in this movie. I

(32:20):
was like, oh, who is this? I've never heard of
this person. Apparently his entire career was playing Pope John
Paul the Second in various things. He's credited on like
twenty things, and it's all Pope John Paul the Second.
He was Pope John Paul the Second on Alf he was,
he was on Ali McBeal as the Pope. He was
on Murphy Brown as the Pope. He was on Golden

(32:41):
Girls as the Pope. He was on everything, and is
he in the Two Popes? He was, No, he's dead.
So they had to get Anthony Hopkins. I have no idea. Yeah,
they called maybe he was like a pope impersonator. That
was his job. And then someone just saw him and
was like, oh, you should just play the pope where
we just have you standing saying anything. And by all accounts,

(33:01):
the Pope thought he did a great job. They're like,
he was like, that's a good representation of me, the Pope. UM.
So that's well, that's I guess that's all I have
to say. Thank you so much. UM for me, I
thought this movie held up quite well, and I think
it has a lot to do with it only being

(33:22):
being rated PG, so there's not a lot of like
because a lot of the movies that end up being
especially comedies that end up being wildly problematic and toxic
because they have freer reigin to make, you know, just
racist jokes and homophobic jokes because there are rated and
stuff like that. I don't know if that's the only

(33:43):
reason why it holds up very well, but I'm like, oh,
you know, this is a movie for like kids and families,
and I've watched it more than once with my mom. Yeah,
it's such a pure whatever it's on TV. They're really
is something for everyone for everybody. Uh. It directed by oh,

(34:04):
I want to get his name right, Emil Ardelino, who
also directed Dirty Dancing, his other big So he's this
guy's just churning out classics. It was also I was
watching it, I was almost I waited to do the
research until I just want to have fun watching it,
And I was like, this movie is so good that
I think it may have even been written by a woman.

(34:24):
But it wasn't. It was written by a man who
did a good job imagine it. But then I also
read that it went through a few different rewrites. Some
of the screenwriters who were brought on Carry Fisher was
Carry Fisher and Nancy Myers, So which is carry Fisher
has punched up some of the some of the best
movies that you never think she was involved in. It's true,

(34:46):
she's the coolest, but yeah, I mean this movie largely
is just about it's very female driven. The men are
either the pope, the priest who's in a couple of scenes,
and then the of guys. But aside from that, it's
like just a very female driven story. You know, Whoopie
Goldberg is the lead is peek here. Yes, she's a

(35:11):
peak of her Whoopie Goldberg like powers. And I loved that.
I remember I look, you know, I was watching it,
and I remember seeing her in the movie and she's
this you know, sexual being, you know, who's the love
interest for Harvey Keitel. And I remember being really excited
that there was a I don't know that just I

(35:32):
was like, oh, excited that, you know, I'm dark skinned,
and just to see her as this like very attractive
you know, and I don't know, it was great. It
was like really exciting to see that when I was
young and totally and it was an audience. It was
not directed just towards black audiences. I mean, it was
for everybody. And you know, and that and that was
exciting for me. I remember that. That's great. Yeah, and

(35:58):
I also read that this was originally written for Bette Midler,
who you know that it's been a fine It would
have been a good movie, I'm sure. Still, but like,
Whoopie kills it. She kills it. She absolutely kills it.
It's so good. And and what you said, Mathea goes
to show like why casting diverse casts is important for representation. Yeah, yeah,

(36:20):
this is like, you know, when did Friends start airing? Fo? Yeah?
So later, but still, you know, like I think it
took Friends how many seasons to have a oh yeah
with like a black love interest? So long? Yeah, yeah,
it's I mean it's like, yeah, Whoopy, the impact of

(36:41):
Whoopie could I mean, we could go on for days.
She's amazing. She's done like such good advocacy over the
years too. And but just like, yeah, just by like
being herself and owning this role and like being sexual,
being capable of being like just like strong willed, and
especially in this movie that's built around sisterhood, is like

(37:02):
so cool and impactful. And I was really excited that
they didn't have a romantic moment between the police officer,
and yeah, it seems like there were a few moments
where I'm like, are they going to do it? I
was relieved that we're just mutually respectful. Yeah right, it

(37:22):
would have been like pretty inappropriate had they gotten together.
It would have blown the case. First of all, yes, exactly,
that's a great point problem for prosecuting Harvey Channel to
offer a bit of criticism about not necessarily the movie,
but his character. He sort of does blow it when
he's like there's a scene where like Harvey Kitel and

(37:44):
his goons are like walking around and then Lieutenant South
there's like, hey, you're going down. I got you. You
know something's going something happened and I'm going to get you.
And why would he be so confident if he didn't
have of Dolores and his protections. And that's what gets
Harvey Keitel to be like, oh he must have Dolores,

(38:06):
we have to go kill her. So it's just like
his like male ego was just it's part of why
what he was in even more danger. South should get
his ego under control. But did you? I mean, I
thought his character was really cool and in so yeah,

(38:27):
we're it's like I feel like they were almost And
I'm like, maybe this is just like speaking to how
a lot of movies like how we've been like like
unconsciously trained to interpret movies. But I thought that he
was going to be positioned as a love interest strictly
because he was nice to her, like that doesn't bode
well for m but youth written because he was just

(38:47):
like nice to her, like he was sympathetic to her situation,
Like there were some moments where he's like, well, deal
with it, but in general, like he came to her
show when he was like, hey, probably don't do this.
Here's was like okay, but are you gonna come? He's
like yeah, looks pretty cool. Like you just seemed like
a supportive, kind person, and so yeah, when I kept

(39:08):
thinking him like, oh, I think he's good to be
the loved interest, I'm like, I think I just think
that because when men are kind to women, especially in
movies of this time, you're kind of trained to think
that they're going to want something out of it, I guess.
And it's just that such a common like studio note
to be like, wait, there's not a hetero romance in
this movie, Well, then what are we even doing? Put
it in there, I hope. And and that also, I mean,

(39:31):
we can't say this for sure, but I just know
that like historically, Whoopie Goberg has always had a lot
of say on like what goes into her star vehicles
and what doesn't. So she also has a lot of
you know power where you have to imagine that suggestion
was made and then I mean it didn't fit into
the story, you didn't need it. And and also she's

(39:53):
got to stay a nun, right right, so Southey doesn't
stand a chance against God. Maybe that's the love storright there. Right,
she does get married to Jesus, So there's still a
heatero romance in this movie. Great points. We gotta take

(40:16):
another quick break, but then we'll come right back and
we're back. Um. Something I wanted to touch on is
so we do often see in a lot of movies
women being kidnapped. Danzel fridged things like that. Um, there

(40:37):
is a kidnapping in this movie, but normally the movies
we tend to see, and especially you know, action and
superhero movies. Um, when a woman is kidnapped, it's to
raise the stakes for the male hero and then he
has to go and rescue her and to like be
more heroic. In this movie, two women are kidnapped, Um,

(40:57):
and whoop, he saves them both. Yeah, for she saves
she helps Mary Robert escape and get away, and then
Dolores gets away on her own. Um. I'm impressed that
you can keep all the names of the nuns because
I just I mean, I just watched it, watched it already,
like who the bangs? Exactly? Where is the spinoff Bangs Nune?

(41:29):
We already have? What is it? What is the Cool Pope?
What's that show? There was the Young Pope and now
it's called Now there's a spinoff called I think it's
like the New Pope. Give the people Bangs Nuns? We
need banks nuns. Yes, none, none. Representation has been down
since the nineties, It's true, except for doubt. Let's not
that's doubt erasure. That was embarrassing. But yeah, that that

(41:53):
whole sequence is again you're sort of like knowing the
time that came out, You're like, oh, no, is that
you know? Is it like you half expected South to
you know, burst in or just based on what you've
seen before. But and I feel like because it is
still a testament to like Whoopi Goldberg, where you just
always get the feeling whenever you see her on screen

(42:14):
that she is going to be able to save herself
like she and and that scene where she is able
to get Mary Robert to tumble out of the car
and not die, not die, that could have ended very badly.
Well that she did it when they slowed and she's Okay,

(42:35):
go save yourself, I'll take care of her. This is
not your problem, right, I'm like, oh, she's maybe she's
done this before. Reno seems wild, but she's able to
save her friend and then yeah, and then save herself
like it. That's that's how you know. There is the
moment at the very end when Harvey Citel is about
to shoot her and then um South comes in and

(42:57):
shoots him instead. So technically that's a bit of a rescue.
But because we've already seen what be getaway on her
own twice now, already at the very beginning and then
again at the end, it didn't feel like, oh, she's
like constantly being damned. What are saved by a man?
And also like that's his job as a police officer
to like yeahs like the first time we've seen like
it was like we gotta see South or succeed. At

(43:19):
some point he's just been accidentally selling her out movie
by being a good friend. Um. Another thing I think
is worth talking about is a big component of this
movie is like female relationships and female friendships that develop. Um,
there are some relationships between women where there is some

(43:41):
tension which we're always like careful to analyze and say, Okay,
well is it warranted or is there any context for
because yeah, it's like sometimes we'll see I think like
a kind of modern trend that will sometimes see is
like like movies full of female relationships where there's never
been a problem and you're like, well, this doesn't feel
really either. What I really liked about this movie is

(44:01):
that with these female relationships, you are generally getting enough
context on the character to understand where because it's like
that the relationship between Maggie Smith and Whoopi Goldberg could
have been so like reductive and basic and this none
is mean, This Nune is fun. But with even with

(44:21):
Maggie Smith's character, you get a like that scene towards
the end where she explains where she's coming from and
like she has these insecurities about being obsolete and not belonging,
and you're just like, oh, you know, you get the
end to her character, and I feel like you kind
of get the same for Dolorous for the most part.
Two for sure, so nice and all the other nuns

(44:42):
are so nice to her, just immediately love her. They
love her, they welcome her, They follow her out to
the bar crosser there as like God, these nuns are
so desperate to do something, because the second they were like, wait,
where's she going? We should go probably go to this
biker bar. I did have one question. Is Maggie Smith

(45:03):
the British actress? Yes, yes, okay, but it's it's funny
because in a lot of movies, I feel like with
nuns not I haven't seen as probably as many as you,
but too well, I haven't seen doubts, you know. That's fine. Yeah,
I feel like nuns often have British accents for some reason.
But maybe it was just because Maggie. Because it was

(45:25):
both Maggie Smith and the priest who was he was Irish?
Yeah he was, yeah, he was not. Yeah. The two
heads of the church were not American, but they were
in San Francisco, and no effort was really made to
feel like here. I do think that there is sometimes
this like dufus brain thing in American culture where they're like, Okay,
how do we make this character sound authoritative? Let's just

(45:47):
hire someone British like probably like they're they should have
hired out for Molina. We should that's true there, I
mean that we're okay. In addition to Banks and non
we needed a choke. This sounds like a show that
would exist American one. You put American before anything, it
probably exists already or good how many shows the good Doctor,

(46:09):
the Good Wife, you need, the good nuns, the bad nun?
Um that also bad teacher? Yeah, I guess bad also bad?
There's other bads? Right or is it just or like
the Something Girl, Bad Boys? But then there's also a
movie called good Boys. Yeah? Yeah, what is going on people?

(46:31):
There's there's also the Blank Girl. There's so many The
Blank Girl, the New Girl, the Danish Girl, others, amongst
other titles. See that great point that just happened? Um,
but yeah, Nydia, like you're saying, the relationship among the
nuns is so like there is sometimes conflict, but for

(46:55):
the most part they're all rooting for each other, and
you get that relationship with Bangs None and and Dolores
where she brings that cute little daisy clock. You're like, Oh,
she's so weird, so weird, she's so weird. She looks
like she's in her twenties, but maybe she's actually fourteen.
She gave you fourteen or forty. And you're like, I

(47:15):
wouldn't be surprised when she brought the clock. Was when
I was like, yeah, I thought that Dolorous was very
patient with her. An adult woman brings you a daisy?
How do you react? I read this whole article and I, oh,
I should I should pull it up because I don't
remember what it was called or the source, so you know. Um,

(47:37):
but it's shipping Dolores and Mary Robert and how they
have a lesbian relationship and if it's like a coded
lesbian relationship throughout the movie. Um, some convincing points were made. Listen,
I'm down, I'm down, and she and she saves Mary
Robert and the Mary Robert runs back to the common
and she's like, Dolores is my best friend. We have
to go to Reno and everyone is like yes, there's

(48:00):
no discussion I love that scene where they Catholic guilt
the helicopter pilot. It's also funny to me. I felt
like the level of religiosity and the fact that people
wouldn't shoot a nun, the fact that like a helicopter
pilot would be unable to resist the advances of nuns

(48:24):
guilting him, like it was so taken for granted. Do
you think if that was a plot twist now that
everyone would be like, yes, that works. I don't know.
I'm like, I feel like if I was faced with
an aggressive none, I would probably do what she said,
but I wouldn't. I mean, yeah, I agree like this movie.
I mean, first of all, is a great propaganda film

(48:46):
for the Catholic Church. Makes it look like a blast.
I mean it is a blast. There are no problems.
I mean I've never seen one there. I mean just
like bury your Spotlight DVD or whatever. Um. But but yeah,
it comes out with yeah, like the assumption that the
entire city of San Francisco is Catholic and suffering from

(49:09):
deep Catholic guilt and they will they will die for
Anne at the drop of that which is I don't know.
I mean, there there are some and none of them particularly, Like,
I don't think they're really like quote unquote problematic. I
just think that they do feel very of their time,
like assuming that everyone is religious and easily manipulated by

(49:30):
religious figures. The kind of world with no race that
this movie has written in that I feel like it's
kind of a hallmark of the nineties where it's just
basically any character in this movie could be played by
anyone of any race, and that topic is just kind
of just not addressed in this particular movie. Um, although

(49:52):
I would say that one of the things about Maggie
Smith's character, she's like, the nuns aren't allowed to go outside,
it's too dangerous. And when you finally get shot to
the neighborhood this quote dangerous neighborhood, it's predominantly black. So
it's like, okay, well you're that's Maggie Smith is racist.
It's what we're saying. God damn it, Maggie Smith is racist. Yeah,

(50:15):
so yeah, that could have been avoided. Yes. Um, the
other thing that I I my little you know, ding
went off. The word hooker gets repeated a couple of
times very nineties nineties language. Yeah, there there was an
any like don't don't consume point and you know, porns

(50:36):
have its pregeous movie that like goes with the like
very catholic because I feel like this was a movie
that church groups could go to. Yeah and so, but
also like I grew up completely secular, and I movies
with religious components often don't appeal to me or you know,
I'm not drawn to them necessarily. Um, but I felt

(50:59):
like this movie was all weirdly secular enough that I
was like, I can get on board with this. This
is fun. I'm having a great time. Plus the great music.
Music is so good. I will have to I have
to say that when they were singing the first reproduced
song reproduced under Whoopy Goldbergs production, fun, what a fun Yeah.

(51:19):
And then they're doing the hymn and then they break
into the more the clapping and the rhythmic portions, and
then people just start walking in off the streets. The
young came in. But I will say at that moment,
I don't know whether I'm particularly emotional right now or what,
but I was like, music does your night? It was

(51:40):
it was man, I was so ready to cry for
that moment because it's, yeah, you see the youth outside
and they're like, what's that beautiful music? Oh, what's that?
That's the church. I'm like, I'm getting propagated. I love it.
I love it so much. There was I mean, I
was like, maybe I'll go back to church, and then
I was like, no, wait, hold on um, but it works. Man.

(52:01):
At the church where we do the shower program in Silver,
like Silvery Community Church, they have beautiful music. It's like
folk music, and it's just gorgeous. I've taken my kids
there a couple of times. I mean, we're not I
wasn't raised Christian, we're not deeply you know, I don't
practice any particular religion deeply right now. But yeah, it's

(52:21):
just so beautiful and lovely to be in the presence
of music with all these other people. I mean, I
guess that's going to a concert, but yeah, but like
it's I don't know, but it's also spiritually, you know,
it's connected to a higher Yeah, and their music is
what brings the pope and he's like, I've heard about
your great choir command. I really like that scene where
where Dolores, you know, where Maggie Smith is about to say,

(52:45):
you know, we can't sing again. Just like the nuns
are so game for whatever. When there's like that vote
where Maggie Smith's like should we do boring music or
fun music? All the nuns are like fun music, and
Maggie's like okay. Then she like almost resigns because again
she's like feeling kind of inadequate and a rule. But
then it's like, no, I do I have to stay.

(53:07):
Everyone has like a nice little arc. You also have
that relationship that I really like between Dolores and Sister
Mary Lazarus, who had been the head of the choire.
She's the choir and and right at the very beginning
of their interactions, she's like, I see what's happening. You
got brought in as a ringer. You're trying to replace me.
But then when she sees that Whoopee is like knows

(53:30):
what she's doing. She knows music, she knows where to
position the people, she knows what notes or what notes,
and she's like, oh, I'm gonna step down. You're clearly
better at this um. And there's I feel like that
could have been in a lesser movie. They would have
tried to like pit those women against each other and
just like had her be like no, no, this is
my thing. But she she like, she's like, no, you

(53:53):
have the skills, this is your background. And then they
become friends and they together when they eat ice cream.
That it was a very nice scene. There was some
confusion around time for me in the movie. Interesting because
you know, they when we first see the church, it's
under construction. They have all the scaffolding there and right,

(54:15):
you know. And then the implication is that by increasing
people who are coming into the church, people are passing
the hat and putting in more money, we're able to
finish the repairs at the church. But that would take
a long It would take a long time. How I
guess it comes down to those montages of like how
much ground are we cover? Because there was like a
few long montages of like nuns doing various but the

(54:39):
whole time they were supposed to wait for the court
date was two months and then yeah, and then and
then the lieutenant calls her and says, I got it
speeded up so it a month. In a month, they
were able to increase attendance at the church enough to
raise ten dollars or more. I are a contractor, finished

(55:01):
the repairs enough how that the Pope could come in
and be totally impressed and went over the youth of
all of San Francisco. They've saved them. I mean Delor.
She's a she's a quick operator. She really solved Catholicism.
And in the beginning it was also interesting because she
was like a failed lounge singer but incredibly successful. Sometimes

(55:25):
you just have to find a caller, you know, it's
that's beautiful. Oh no, I think I have more varied
religious issues than I realized. Um yeah, I'm trying to
think of other I mean, oh, something I did want
to bring up. So I bring this up a lot
on the show. But usually, UM, I wouldn't even say

(55:46):
that this movie is marketed specifically at women. I think
that it's kind of a general movie. Will be Goldberg
is such a huge star at this time. This movie
was hugely successful. Um I had a thirty one million
dollar budget and it made two wounder thirty one million
dollars at the box office. So like the movie was,
it seems like everyone was seeing it. But we do find,

(56:08):
especially when um the film critic pool was less diverse
that movies that are directed at general audiences and then
usually specifically women or people who are not whatever the
white male critic don't get as good a review. Somehow,
this movie only has round to me, which hurts my feelings, like,
how does it not have? And we have I have?

(56:31):
I found a quote from our noted enemy, Roger Ebert,
who always has the dumbest takes in spite of being
the most famous film critic of all time. Here's what
do you have to say about his direct I found
to be very fusing. He said, this movie is a
little bit low key and contemplative and a little too thoughtful,
which I didn't like. I was like, what he didn't

(56:52):
like that the movie was thinking about things. It's like, now,
hold on, there's a point to all this, so that
you know, so don't with the point bank don't always
trust Rotten Tomatoes some of the old guy has weighing
in or but I would even take issue with the
characterization of the movie. It's too thoughtful, right if it

(57:12):
it's a wrong, it's just immediate music. It's a it's
a musical right with with multiple musical montages, right all rule.
I don't know, I don't I don't know what was
going on with him, but he was not he didn't
seem to be he didn't like fun. He seemed to

(57:32):
not fun. You get the vibe from all of his
reviews of like, why wasn't this Taxi Driver? I'm like,
if it's not taxi driver two stars like um now,
and then wasn't exactly like stand by Me because costead
stand by Me for girls stars? Um So anyways, just

(57:57):
another reflection on the state of film criticism this time.
Did you have any other that's kind of it? I have. Surprisingly,
I really don't have too much of a bad word
to say about this mo. Now. I have to say
that I'm so grateful that as part of my campaign duties,
I had to rewatch Sister Act, and it should be

(58:21):
a job qualification. It was such a pleasure because there's
so much to do right now. But I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
I will set a side time for Sister I need
to watch this. Don't disturb me. I'm rewatching Sister Act.
Sometimes my mom will call me and I'm like, sorry,

(58:42):
I've got too much work to do right now. I
have to go watch the Social Network. I understand why
my parents don't think this is a job. I get it.
I get it, I get it. But I'm a worker
and you have rights. Yes, we need to a podcast union.
We need a unionize. Honestly we should. Does this movie

(59:05):
pass the Vectel test tons, I think almost more than
any movie we've ever covered. There's whole scenes that passed
the Bechtel test. Um. I believe that the scene where
Sister Mary Robert brings in the weird daisy besides mentioning
her brother one time, that entire scene passes the Bectel test,

(59:26):
which is like virtually unheard of. Yeah, no, I mean
I was like, so the pope, do the nuns even
talk about another man? I mean Help or God or Jesus.
But yeah, most of the male characters are unseen because
they're Jesus and God. So I do like, how okay,
So there's one scene. There's a few scenes where the

(59:48):
priest is present. I do like how kind of generally
sidelined he is. But there is that one scene where like,
and I don't necessarily know entirely how to feel about this,
but there's a scene between um, the reverend mother or
mother reverend I don't know, Maggie Smith and Dolores, and Um,
she's yelling at Dolores for this is pop music. This

(01:00:10):
is secular music. Uh. And then the priest comes in.
He's like, no, I'm going to undermine your authority here
and be like hey, like he was on Dolores, I
thought that he just like for me, kind of was
on board with the nun hive mind of like we
love what we called burg will do whatever she says,

(01:00:31):
so and that, I mean, I see what you're saying.
But I was like, they should be singing fun music
or why am I watching um? But yes, yeah, big, big,
many passes, many passes between many combinations of characters. Yeah.
Usually if there's two women on screen talking to each other,
it'll pass the metal test at some point in the car.
And that's most of the scenes of the movie. So

(01:00:52):
this movie is truly it's the one feminist text we've
We've found it distract as our feminist text. I of it.
I was so happy. I mean, it's a sister in
the title. What do you expect? I'm so excited that
we covered this movie today. Really may be so happy.
Let's write it. Yes, rate it on our nipple scale.
We have a scale of zero to five nipples in

(01:01:15):
which we rate it based on its representation and treatment
of women. I'm gonna go with a solid like four
and a half, And there's just a few of those
little like nineties jokes and like, you know, uses of
certain words and you know, like black neighborhood equals dangerous neighborhood.

(01:01:36):
But it was far less problematic than I would have
expected if a movie from the early nineties. It's about
it's a movie about a woman being accepted into this sisterhood.
And and even though she's like at the beginning, she's like,
I don't like this, all the nuns are still like,
but you're so great, and you're so good at being

(01:01:56):
a nun, and we like you so much. Everyone this
movie is so accepting of each other, so very supportive. Yeah,
and the one female relationship where there is tension is
contextualize and like everyone comes around by the end. So yeah,
it's just it's a beautiful story about sisterhood and we
need more of them. So I would give this four
and half nipples and give one to Whoopee, one to

(01:02:20):
Maggie Smith, one to her bangs the bangs of the Bangs, none, none,
and I'll give one to Kathy Najimie, and I'll give
one to Lieutenant South there love it. Yeah, I'm gonna
do four and a half to two. I think that
this this movie just made me so happy. And no
movies hold up. In this movie, like holds up never happens.

(01:02:44):
It's so I just love how there were so many
opportunities for their writing to kind of turn women against
each other, but it really never takes that option. And
like the sisters are on board the whole time. They're
there to support each other. And when there's a reveal
of like Dolores isn't who she says she is, they're like,

(01:03:04):
who cares she was kidnapped? We're going to arena? Like
it's just it's so I just like I'm getting emotional
um there. I mean, there's very low um representation of
women behind the camera here, which is like something to
just be aware of. There's one credited female producer, but

(01:03:25):
it's you know, directed, written by editor, cinematography. The whole
bit is kind of men across the board. Just something
that we try to be aware of. But the story
itself and the actors that are there, it's just it's
just the best. So four and a half two will
be one of Maggie, one of Cathy and half to banks. Yeah,
I'm you know, I probably not because I haven't done

(01:03:45):
this as much as you guys, but I'm gonna give
it five nipples. Uh, and just look at the disgusting clue.
We were like just because yeah, like I expected this
to be yeah, expected it not to hold up as well,
and I was Yeah, I was so happy to be
able to watch a movie like this. It was just
so happy and it gave me an adult rated joy.

(01:04:07):
Do I have to assign the nipples to people? If
you want to? I would, I would, I would follow
you and we're assigning in your nipple assignments, spreading the
nipples across the board. Plenty of sisters, plenty of nipples.
I'll give the pope and one of my nipples. Yeah,
good for you, didn't get any well, Nathia, thank you
so much for being here, Thank you for having me.

(01:04:28):
Tell us what you want to plug. Where can people
find you on social media? Oh yeah, yeah, so I
meant Nitia for the City dot com. But if you
use social media, follow us on Twitter. Nittia v Raman.
That's an I T h y A and my last
name is r A m A and not not quite
like the noodle. Um. But if you know, if you
just google Nitia City Council, I'm the only Nitia running

(01:04:48):
for city council. Imagine that. Um. And we're on Instagram
and Natia for the city as well. And um, definitely
if you're in l A, please look me up, come
out to canvas. Um. We have a huge volunteer army
that's knocking on every door in the district to try
and get people excited about this election and how they
can expect change in the city. Um. Yeah, so look

(01:05:09):
look me up, come out, come meet us. And when
when's the election again? March three? And vote? Ever come
out and vote, yes exactly. I'm sure everyone's going to
be voting for the primaries. You should be well not
stop bothering our listeners about it. Um. Yeah, thank you
so much for making the time and and and carving
Sister Act into your schedule. Yes, thank you for giving

(01:05:30):
me the opportunity to carve Sister Act into my schedule anytime.
Very grateful. Thank you. Guys. Where's Sisterhood right now? Yes? Yes,
this is the Sisterhood of the Traveling Act. Where's that movie? Okay,
you can follow us all the normal places Twitter, Instagram,
et cetera. At Bechtel Cast. You can go to our
website bechtel cast dot com for our show dates and episodes.

(01:05:54):
Our patren aka Matreon is five dollars a month to
bonus episodes every month, plus the entire back atalogue. And
I think that's about it. Yeah, thank you so much.
Thank you. Byfi