Into Great Silence
Last night, a small group of people and I watched INTO GREAT SILENCE (http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/film.php?directoryname=intogreatsilence). It is a documentary filming the everyday lives of the Carthusian monks of the Grande Chartreuse, high in a remote corner of the French Alps (Chartreuse Mountains). The film was made 16 years after the director first requested permission to make it. Then he lived at the monastery for six months, and filmed all alone, behind the walls no ‘outsider’ had ever been allowed to enter before. It had me glued and focused with squinted eyes the entire time. If you’re interested in the monastic life at all, this is good to see, even with it’s longer view time of 162 minutes. I rented it from Netflix. I don’t know, but I doubt any local movie rental stores hold it, but they may.
In viewing the film, I felt as if I was there, in their purity and silence. The lack of any “background” music or laid over narration encouraged this. It brings the viewer into the monastery without actually being there. I felt like I truly experienced their way. It left me with many, many thoughts and questions and ideas, especially since I’m very interested and keen on the monastic life. Ever Order is unique and different. These monks are unique and particularly different, for instance, from Buddhist monks, and that is a very general, broad statement.
Watching this film is like taking a time of solitude to be in prayer and sit in meditation. It’s like giving a few hours to sitting in the woods with your senses attuned to every sound and movement that surrounds you. One becomes observant and respectful of his/her surroundings.
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