Directed by Philip Gröning. (G) 164 min. Opens Oct 27.
You might presume that an almost-three-hour, non-narrative
documentary about the daily lives of brothers in a remote French
monastery would have a limited appeal. Yet Into Great Silence's
success with audiences -- it was a surprise hit in Germany and Italy --
suggests it's not hard to appreciate the film's gentle pace,
mesmerizing imagery and subtle but rich panoply of sounds, as well as
its insights about the human drive to lose the trappings of the world
and assume a godlier disposition.
German filmmaker Philip Gröning waited 13 years to get
permission to shoot inside the Grande Chartreuse, home to the
Carthusians, one of the Roman Catholic Church's strictest orders.
Gröning lets scenes of work and worship unfold in silence. Concepts of
time slip away, as if the film were taking place in a perpetual
present. Though a few signifiers of modernity are visible, this way of
life has gone unchanged for centuries.
Through the repetition of sights, sounds, actions and
intertitles featuring particular biblical quotes ("Lord, you have
seduced me, and I have been seduced," Jeremiah 20:7), Gröning gradually
conveys an acute sense of what it means to become more like God. The
monks' dedication is particularly impressive to those of us who try to
take the shortcut to transcendence.