In a time in which humanity is becoming more unsettled as a result of natural disasters, terrorist acts and escalating warfare, this calm and beautiful film comes with the comforting assurance of profound spiritual insight. Its complex and comprehensive message has been achieved by outstanding direction, which is why it won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival last year and has taken France by storm, attracting over three million viewers. It was recently screened in Melbourne in the Alliance Francaise French Film Festival.
It is a fictionalised account of nine Catholic monks of the Cistercian Order, seven of whom were killed in Algeria in 1996. Their monastery in the remote village of Tibhirine is the central location; and we are given throughout the film an ever deepening awareness of the sacred rituals, often expressed in song, which undergird the monks’ faith and practice. They wear white robes; and the vital final scenes are filmed in snow, for this, among other things, is a study of purity and how that may be obtained in the hour of trial.
The monks’ contemplative lifestyle and practical activities are clearly presented, together with the gentle bond of friendship and respect they have formed with the Muslim villagers. Then fanatical jihadists murder some Croatian workers and suddenly the question has risen as to whether the monks should stay or leave. To stay means almost certain death. Initially they are divided; eventually they all decide that staying is the right path.
Neither they nor the film are dogmatic; but we are left convinced that they chose wisely and that their witness has won a victory over the violence and terror that have beset them and their village. A particularly telling scene shows the prior, Father Christian, played by Lambert Wilson, walking up through a flock of bleating sheep to a nearby lake on a hilltop to seek illumination. It is a part of the impeccable leadership he displays.
Philippa Hawker in The Age (21st March) wrote that ‘it’s not a film about certainties after all, but about doubt.’ More accurately, it is a film about the overcoming of doubt by nine men who individually and collectively travel the path of integrity. The approach of director Xavier Beauvois is ecumenical; and the film has been supported by both the Bishops’ Conference of France and the French Council of Muslim Faith. As Vanessa Thorpe reported in The Australian (February 28th), Of Gods and Men ‘allows audiences to use their own imagination’ and its meditation results in a spiritual message that is universal.
Of Gods and Men is to be issued by Sony on DVD.