Please go see this movie! Of Gods and men. Beautiful.

A couple of friends and I went to see Of Gods and Men at the Bytowne Cinema on Saturday afternoon.

It is everything it is described as being in this blurb, and more. Tremendously moving and amazingly respectful and realistic about the Christian faith. I would see this again and again.

The images and emotions of the French film Of Gods And Men are likely to stick with you for a very long time. Xavier Beauvois’ haunting film is based on life in the Cistercian monastery of Tibhirine in the mountains of Algeria in the run-up to the kidnapping and murder of seven monks in 1996, the circumstances of which are still not fully explained.

The peace of the monks’ existence seeps into the opening scenes, flowing from their full, unhurried days – praying, singing, doing agricultural work and making honey – and their warm relationships with the Muslim villagers who are their close neighbours.

The Cistercians attend the birthday parties of local children and run a free medical clinic. Religion, as they practise it, is about the transforming effect of kindness and charity rather than any strident evangelism.

But Islamist fundamentalism is taking root in Algeria and, with the barbaric murder of Croatian workers nearby, apprehension circles the monastery for the first time. On Christmas Eve, an armed group breaks in, although no one is hurt.

The Algerian government advises them to return to France, and there is a sense that official impatience with the monks’ ethical stance is turning to hostility, although local people are desperate for them to remain.

The strength of the film lies in its unsparing focus on the monks as they question whether their future lies elsewhere: the superb cast quietly conveys the men’s fears and fraying nerves. At first the pressure fractures the harmony of the monastery, as their leader, Christian (Lambert Wilson), argues for staying while certain others press to leave. Then, with further contemplation, they all decide to stay.

Thereafter, there is the sense of an increasingly embattled group of men, many of whom are physically frail, supporting each other with tenderness.

These days it is unusual to see a screen depiction of faith so entirely devoid of fury, and it is a testimony to the delicacy of the director that what remains with you is not the brutality of the monks’ fate, but the gentle, sustaining power of their belief.

– Jenny McCartney, Seven Magazine