What if I told you that some of the most chilling and iconic photographs of concentration camps during World War II were taken by a woman?  Or did you know that our current electric grid, and a certain American car company, are derived from an immigrant?  Would you be shocked to know that much of our economy at one time or another ran (runs) on cheap labor?  The answer to the second question is Nikola Tesla, and the third could be today or two centuries ago.  I am sensitive to these topics because I belong to a Church that has at times, and seemingly today in an increasing fashion, been viewed as a “danger” for speaking out in defense of the defenseless.  As to the first question, like Catholicism (though history seemingly records no opinion by her on the Faith), Lee (2023) Miller (Kate Winslet), saw brokenness in society and wanted to do something about it.  There are many ways to respond to adversity and this was hers.

After we see Lee as a correspondent during World War II picking her way through the battle ridden streets of Saint-Malo, we see her as an old woman responding to questions.  They are being asked by Antony Penrose (Josh O’Connor), who has come to inquire about the aged former model, photographer, and journalist for Vogue magazine.  She does not seem keen on being interrogated, but she agrees to give her life story so long as he eventually says something about himself.  We thus go back to 1938 where she is living in the south of France with a few French intellectuals and other fashionable people.  While they are discussing the rise of fascism and how France might respond, they are visited by Roland Penrose (Alexander Skarsgård), an English artist with whom she falls in love.  Not long after they meet, he asks Lee if she will come with him back to London.  They arrive in 1940 in the middle of the Blitz.  If you know your history, you will understand that this is not the easiest time to be in the capital of the British Empire.  In addition to difficulties like food shortages, they have to deal with the ever-present danger of German bombing raids.  While Roland is a conscientious objector, he does his part for the war effort as an artist by working on camouflage for the military.  Caught up in the spirit of the times, Lee also wants to contribute to defeating fascism.  It starts by going to the British Vogue magazine editor, Dame Audrey Withers (Andrea Riseborough), and getting a job as a photographer.  Lee is initially turned down particularly because the work she wants to do is not considered feminine.  Yet, eventually she is taken on to the magazine’s staff and puts on film the daily struggles of the English as they, for a time, stood alone in Europe against the Nazi war machine.  She did not have to wait too long for her native Americans to join the cause.  The first evidence we see of the English cousins from across the pond is David Scherman (Andy Samberg), who works for Time.  Being in similar fields and sharing a country of origin, Lee takes in David as a friend.  It is also helpful since Roland is called away to help with the signal corps.  It must be stressed, however, that nothing improper happens between them, and in fact David, Lee, and Roland all become friends.  Still, as the fighting on the European continent progressed, it became apparent that a buildup was happening that would lead to the D-Day invasion of Normandy.  Lee wants to cross the English Channel with the troops, but her English publication will not let her.  Yet, thanks to an inadvertent reminder from David, she applies to be an American correspondent like him.  Still, when she gets to France, she is again denied access to her duties because of her sex.  It takes her sneaking into the press briefing to get the United States Army press liaison officer, Colonel Spencer (James Murray), to allow her to start taking pictures.  Noticing her dedication, Colonel Spencer relents and sends Lee to Saint-Malo where the film began.  Despite being told that it was a quiet area, she is thrust into the middle of the action.  The experience is what sets in motion her post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), something she deals with for the rest of the war with drinking and pills.  It gets no better when she meets up again with David, or during the liberation of Paris.  While stationed in the City of Lights, she encounters Solange d’Ayen (Marion Cotillard), one of the set we had seen her with in the south of France.  Witnessing Solange’s experience with the war, and other former friends, deepens Lee’s feelings of despair.  David tries to help by arranging for a visit from Roland, but Roland expects Lee to return to London with him.  This is not something she can countenance, and thus it is on to Germany with David.  They are not long in the country of the Wehrmacht when they encounter a concentration camp where thousands of Jewish inmates were killed by the Nazi regime.  Horrified, they nonetheless do their jobs as journalist, filming the dead and living alike.  Later, as they are leaving the death camp, they encounter an apartment being guarded by a number of American soldiers.  Bribing their way inside, they discover that it had once been occupied by Eva Braun (not pictured) and Adolf Hitler (archival footage).  Lee decides to take a picture of herself bathing in the recently deceased führer’s bathtub and they leave.  With the death of the lunatic that plunged the world into war, Lee returns to Roland.  Unfortunately, the pictures of the devastation she took do not make it into Vogue.  It leads to a furious and tearful confrontation with Dame Withers, who meekly protests that she had vigorously tried to get Lee’s image published. Instead, they are sent to the American version of the magazine, who later prints them.  This is basically the end of the story, but it is at this point that we learn that Antony is Lee’s son.  He had come to her to learn about a mother who had been distant from him, and why she had been this way.  Finally, she disappears, and it is suggested by all the photographs scattered around the room that he had imagined the whole conversation.

It is difficult to imagine the things that Lee went through during World War II, and in her life in general, though the movie does a good job of telling the audience about much of it.  In addition to the PTSD brought on by being on the frontlines of the war, she had also been sexually abused as a child.  It is a woundedness that only Jesus can heal, but sadly we see no attempt on her part to seek Divine assistance.  Indeed, there are a few scenes I would rather unsee as it is far too liberal with nudity, but this, too, is seemingly historically accurate.  What struck this Catholic most about the film is her response to the events happening around her.  Granted, I did not care for her heavy drinking or smoking, not to mention the topless scenes, but when it came to tyranny, she wanted to do something about it.  Early in the film, one of her friends, French poet Paul Éluard (Vincent Colombe), has a great quote that sums up Lee’s emotions then and could apply to today, “The only response to tyranny is to paint.”  These words are timely for Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has voiced the Church’s opposition to the detention of illegal immigrants in the United States.  That is putting it lightly.  While the Trump Administration puts people into camps with few provisions for their dignity as human beings, our Catholic leaders in this country show their solidarity with these oppressed populations by walking with them.  The president claims to be a Christian, even selling Bibles with his name on them, but it is Catholicism that models Christ when it comes to these minorities.  It is the kind of call to action that motivates Lee.  One does not have to take up a weapon or throw rocks at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.  Use your voice, whether it be speaking on the streets or braving bombs and bullets, to oppose abuse in society.  God will reward you.

At the same time, I am not sure I would call watching Lee a rewarding experience.  There are a lot of objectionable aspects to it that make its R rating well earned.  At the same time, I would call our heroine heroic.  She is a flawed individual, but who can claim not being so.  What I applaud her for is her adherence to her values and being on the right side of history.