Sydney Film Festival 2006: Into Great Silence

Into Great Silence, directed by Philip Groning 2005.

And the Lord passed by.
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind.
After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.

And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
1 Kings 19: 11-13

I honestly am tempted to simply make this post one collage of still images from the film so completely does it embody the visual medium of cinema.

Into Great Silence was one of the very first films to jump out and catch my eye when I was perusing the online catalog of films for the festival. Later, when I had to pick which films I would see it was one of the first I marked off. Finally, we had an opportunity to sit down and chat with the artistic director of the Sydney International Film Festival, Lynden Barber, and when I asked him about this film he basically said it was a film that you will either completely love or absolutely hate, but either way it was the very first film of the festival to sell out. In a festival complete with 200 films of varying nature, it says something that the first film to sell out was a three hour documentary......one that has less than 15 minutes of actual dialogue!

If you haven't managed to guess yet, I fall into the the former category.

Philip Groning first approached the monks of the Carthusian order back in the late 1980's about doing a documentary on them. Their response was that perhaps they would be ready in ten, maybe 15 years. 16 years later Groning received notice from the monks they were finally ready. 3 years later the film was finished and Into Great Silence was revealed to the public.

For those that are a little unfamiliar with the Carthusian monks, they reside in the French alps and follow a strict vow of silence. Living their lives in contemplation of their surroundings, the scripture, and God, the monks lives are simple yet there is something innately attractive about a lifestyle uncluttered with the noise and hustle of the average modern daily routine.

The film ends up being as much of a meditative experience as a documentary. There is no "soundtrack" to speak of, the only sounds being the ambient sounds of shoes on the floor or insects in the the glade. Amidst this "natural silence" is the occasional shattering of the quiet with the searingly beautiful notes of the monks songs.

Their chants roll like soft waves across the darkened chambers of the sanctuary. The screen is completely dark save the soft red flicker of one lone candle at the far end of the chamber. The darkness is punctured momentarily as a light turns on illuminating a monks face as he turns the page of the hymnal in front of him. It is a beauty that wraps you in its warmth and than drags you into the depths of your own soul. Completing this transition is cut to the outside of the monastery, draped in pristine white snow, in the middle of night, while the cinematograpy has been speed up, revealing the rotation of the earth as the stars fly past the tops of the surrounding mountain peaks.....and the monks chant on......

And so it goes for three hours. You see the monks get their hair cut, you see them eat, you seem them pray, tend the garden, feed the cats, even take some time to have fun sliding down the snowy mountain side on their feet until they fall down laughing. There is no narration, there is only visuals and your own inner monologue.

A documentary is designed to inform, to make you understand an issue or get a glimpse of a place, people, or culture. By the time Into Great Silence is finished I felt like I had been living with them, and that's about as high of praise as I can think of for a documentary film.

Predictably, as the film moved forward, the audience slowly left. The lady next to me kept pestering her husband, "God, will it ever end??" It came to me as I left the theater, almost half the audience could not still for 3 hours. They could not handle this silence filled with pristine beauty and the most meditative of moving experiences. How much more impressive is it that these monks live like this for their entire life?

Honestly I found myself seriously considering if I could handle the life that these amazing people have willingly chosen for themselves. There is something starkly alluring about leaving all the ridiculous noise of our daily routines for something simple, something beautiful. To be able to have all the time in the world to explore yourself, our world, and persue God.....in whatever form you may believe. In some ways I think I could, in others I feel I probably would fall shamefully short.

While the monks do take a vow of silence, they are, very, very, very occasionally allowed to talk and on one such occasion one of the oldest monks, who is blind, takes the time to talk about his faith and his views on God. It is oddly touching and stands starkly in relief to the overwhelming silence of the film.

If it comes out on DVD you know I will be going on about it so keep your eyes peeled. In conclusion I will leave you with another shot of the film.
P.S. Here are a couple of links in relation to the film:
Official website: http://www.diegrossestille.de/english/
Website with trailer (be patient as it is a tad slow to load): http://www.bavaria-film-international.de/htmls/filmpages/f02_023trai.html
****Four Stars