Of Gods and Men

This is our Sunday treat at the no longer brand new Phoenix in Leicester.

"Of Gods and Men

Causing a sensation at Cannes, Beauvois’ powerful drama reduced hardened journos to tears when premiered at the festival. When a civil war breaks out in Algeria, seven Cistercian monks are caught in the middle. Do they abandon their local Muslim community, or do they accept their fate and stay? This is bold, grown up filmmaking, anchored by a beautifully understated performance from Lambert Wilson." We will see. Sunday 13th March. Well we went to see it and know now that the above quotation is not over the top. If I did not know many Cistercian monks at first hand and over many decades I would have perhaps found the monks in the film rather odd. From my experiences with them they are actually, well some of them, ordinary human beings who wear woolly hats, swear occasionally and have the same conflicts internally as anyone else. I suppose the extra twist with these Cistercians is that they are French and French Catholicism, I have come to realise mainly from watching www.ktotv.com is sui generis. It tends not to look over its shoulder to see what Rome wants or not, it is independent and it is French. Some of the lines from the frere Christian are jewels and some up so much of what I think to be true. The comment above about being a "grown up" film are true in my opinion. Cinematographically, it is beautiful to watch.