That is my official 'blurb' for the German documentary "Into Great Silence," a behind-the-scenes look at the daily lives of a group of cloistered Carthusian monks living on a hillside monastery in the French Alps. I welcome any publicist to use my quote to promote this film to a wider audience.
(It was either that or "A must-see movie for anyone considering joining a monastery!"--but I didn't think that would apply to as many in the movie-going public).
It's a hard sell to begin with: imagine spending 162-minutes with a bunch of Frenchmen who pray all day. That's what's in store for you when you buy a ticket to Philip Groning's work -- no narrator, no interviews, no musical soundtrack -- but I do recommend it as a tonic to both modern life and modern (i.e. Hollywood) movies. Every time I watched a novice kneeling in prayer on a wooden pew in his 'cell', I couldn't help but think how many CGI-laden shots Imust be missing in a comparable length of celluloid in 'Spiderman 3.'
The movie has a simple-enough structure: intercutting scenes of daily chores around the monastery with scenes of solitary prayer and group services. So a chapel service illuminated only by candlelight precedes scenes of chopping wood, shoveling snow, and feeding a group of feral, and in their own way, cloistered cats. (Even they don't make a sound).
The deliberate pace of these monks as they carry-out their mundane chores (I had had enough the second time the monks had their heads shaved) slowly reveals that even in these simple acts they reveal devotion and commitment to the lives of service they have chosen. The film's beauty lies in the details: chopping celery on front of a magnificently sunlit window; cutting fabric for vestments that will clothe the novices who are about to enter into this strange world; the snow; the stars; the Alps. The cinematography renders these scenes into something more profound
But the camera angles and lighting are sometimes too conspicuous by their artistry. At the same time, Groning's unyielding commitment to stay at a respectful distance, even in the rare glimpse of what these monks do to 'unwind' (sliding down a snow-covered hillside, still in their vestments); the camera stays a good quarter-mile away, rendering inaudible their shouts of joy. This detachment ultimately undermines the filmmaker's intention: we never gain an understanding of why these men have chosen to renounce modern society; what goes on in their minds day after day; what are they praying-reflecting-thinking about these countless hours, while the rest of humanity continues on with their lives, literally just beyond the walls of the monastery?
Groning doesn't allow the audience to learn more about these men by not engaging with them in any way -- an interview with the blind monk nearing the end of his life is too short, and arrives much too late -- by not even sharing with us the moments where they do interact (they have not taken a vow of silence, so they must communicate with each other). In spite of the length of time you spend with these remarkable men (and throughout the film, you get to stare directly at each one of them for a nice, Warholian moment), you walk out of the theater wishing your last 3 hours of observation provided more insight into the men you were observing.
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