What I Watched -- Of Gods and Men

Wow this movie is intense, and it's based on a true story, the real end of which we will probably never know.  There's also a book about the incident.

It's the story of nine French Roman Catholic monks who've dedicated themselves to God and a small monastery in Algeria, although I don't think the country is ever mentioned in the movie.  They live simply and serenely, carrying out their daily tasks with a ritualism and dignity that is to be admired.  They have very little, and give virtually all that they have to the Muslim townspeople, who have even less.  The monks and villagers live together in peace, despite their ideological differences.

The trouble begins for the monks when Muslim extremists fighting in the Algerian civil war draw closer to their little monastery, bringing intolerance and inspiring fear among the locals.  The monks must decide whether to stay or go.  If they stay, their lives are at great risk, but they will be there to support their town and answer their calling until the last.  If they go, they can carry on their work back home in France, but they'll abandon the villagers to the rebel forces.

Do they make the right choice?  I'm still wondering.  It takes a good movie to make me do that.

A few comments about the film, rather than the story:

The pace is slow, slow, slow; it's set mostly in a monastery, where everything is calm and deliberate.  That slowness and silence increase the tension, because you're constantly expecting something bad to happen to one of the men.  And bad things do happen, but not in the way I anticipated.  A surprise bonus of the slowness: if you speak even a little French, you can understand some of the movie without having to read the subtitles!

The movie is almost entirely, and probably consciously, politics-free.  I'm okay with that, because politics is not my thing.  But I'm thinking specifically of the fact that these are French monks living in an African country.  Colonization, anyone?  Likely that was left out because there's easily enough material on that subject to make an entirely separate movie (or four).  There just wasn't time for it in this one, which already runs at 120 minutes.

There are two incredibly powerful scenes. One occurs when the monks are in their chapel at prayer.  As a rebel helicopter draws near, they all stand, embracing shoulder-to-shoulder, and begin to sing.  The sound of their song is nearly drowned out by the rotor blades, but they remain, together.

The second is a dinner scene.  The monks have a simple diet, eating what they grow and cook themselves; one night, Brother Luc brings out wine for them to share.  He puts in an audiotape of the theme from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, which is a brilliant soundtrack over which to watch the monk's faces, each one individually as he comes to realize the impact of his decision. The brothers face their enemy and their consciences with strength and resolve.  Finally.

Make no mistake, religion features prominently in this movie; it is about monks, after all.  However, with the exception of a few villagers' statements about le coran and some lines near the end about the brothers, most of it is not the self righteous, hit-you-over-the-head-with-politics type of religion.  It's just that these guys happen to be monks.  They pray a lot, they struggle with their faith, they ask God for help, and they do so without being sanctimonious about it.  They accept without question or judgment the faiths of others.  You learn all you need to know about the brothers' beliefs just by watching their interactions with the local townspeople.


If you're looking for a movie about a strong character, this isn't for you.  A few monks stand out as being a bit more developed than the others - Dom Christian (Lambert Wilson), the abbot; Brother Luc (Michael Lonsdale), the doctor; Brother Christophe (Olivier Rabourdin), the conflicted one - but this is really a movie about all of them together, the strength they find in each other, rather than about any of them individually.

Bottom line: be prepared for it, but see it.

And then:
T took me out to dinner after the movie.  We went to Fleming's, since it was close to the theater and neither of us had ever been there.  We split the Cajun barbecue shrimp as an appetizer, and I had the New Zealand lamb chops (in honor of Dad's recent trip) with chipotle mac and cheese.  And for dessert?  Key lime pie.  Tasty indeed.


We didn't get there until around 9:00, and I was a little surprised, given the hour, to see that the place was packed.  By the time we left, it had largely emptied out though.  Our server, Todd, was nice, chit-chatty, and has his own business cards.  How often do you see that with servers?