Dolores Hart was an up and coming actress in the late Fifties and early Sixties. She played opposite Elvis Presley in his movie LOVING YOU and also appeared in WHERE THE BOYS ARE and WILD IS THE WIND. While she was appearing with George Peppard on Broadway, she was exhausted after a nine month run. To get away from it all and relax, she decided to go to a monestery for a few days of peace. It was at that Abbey that she fell in love with God and felt the calling to become a nun. But the Mother Superior at the time convinced her that it was not her time yet, so Dolores went back to Hollywood and continued a career in movies. She became engaged to a handsome architect and on the night of her engagement party, she told him that she had decided to give her life to God and become a nun. In 1963, she entered the Abbey and nearly fifty years later, she is now the Mother Superior. GOD IS THE BIGGER ELVIS was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Subject Documentary. It is airing on HBO this month. It is less than an hour and is incredibly fascinating. Dolores is the centerpiece of the film, but you also get the backstories to the other Nuns in the Abbey and what led them to devote their life to God. It takes you inside the Abbey as you witness the nuns during their times of silence, their meals, their work gardening, and some very intimate conversations between Mother Dolores and the Nuns that adore her and depend on her advice and leadership. GOD IS THE BIGGER ELVIS could have been a full length Documentary. It felt truncated and just at the point of wanting to know more, it ends. One of the more heartbreaking scenes is with the man that Dolores was engaged to. He has never remarried and has never fallen out of love with Dolores. He visits her several times a year at the Abbey and you witness their farewell to each other at the end of a visit. The look on Dolores' face as he leaves says it all. To devote your life to God, there is much sacrifice, but oh so much reward in the end. GOD IS THE BIGGER ELVIS is inspiring and enlightening. Find it on HBO in April.
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