Several film
festivals have thrown this one up for me. I bypassed it several times. Now I
know I’ve used that formula before, but the sheer amount of times life has gone
“Umm, you should probably watched this” is amazing. Amazing in that I ignored
every one until today. I am a strong believer that things are put in your path
for a reason. Now, I’m not entirely sure if you’ll be put off by the fact that
this is a film that confronts terrorists and monks or not. I personally was intrigued.
But don’t worry, it’s not one of those post-modern absurd comedy thingies. It’s
a true story.
Once upon a
time, not so long ago, there was a monastery in Algeria. In this monastery lived Trappist Monks, originally all from France,
these men lived as part of the community; the doctor healed the sick that came
from miles around and the monks worked the land and sold honey produced in the monastery
to make a living. They lived a quiet and frugal existence of prayer and
meditation, far removed from the complications of the “real world” (some might
argue that as monks it is the real Real World the monks were working towards
but that is a slightly different story – not to mention a matter of belief).
But anyway. The point is, as you know, the real world tends to not react very
kindly to being ignored. And when the Algerian Civil War finally finds its way
to the gates of the monastery the monks have to make a very important decision.
Will they stay and help defend the community that leans so heavily on the monastery?
Or will they take the ehm “advice” of the Algerian government and leave?
As this is
a French film, technically speaking, I was intrigued. It’s still a touchy
subject, the Algerian Civil War. One has to be careful with the portrayal of
the monks as well. I mean, not only are they monks – and religion is a touchy
subject at the best of times in these turbulent times of ours – they are French
monks in Algeria. I loved the way the first half of the film portrays the
monks, often watching them silently going about their day to day tasks. There
is an innate difficulty to portraying day to day tasks like this elegantly and
in a way that isn’t going to bore the audience to tears in minutes. Director
Xavier Beauvois succeeds greatly in imbuing you with a sense of the calm that
surrounds the monastery and monastic life, and the real shock that hits the
community when one day, completely unannounced and unexpected the terrorists
arrive. You find that the characters and community, though you have but the
most minimal knowledge of them, has grown on you.
Another
thing that stuck with me is the character of Brother Christian, the “head”
monk, portrayed by Lambert Wilson. There is a certain turning point in the
film, until which you are pretty sure that Christian is rather unsuitable as
far as a leaders go. You doubt he has the strength of character to face up to
something as severe as life threatening danger, even though he may well be
beyond adequate for the day to day running of monastery life. Suffice it to
say, if you walked into that trap… Well, it’s a trap. What one has to remember
of course is that there is more than one style of management in life, be it in monasteries
or in the office. And especially when it comes to matters such as faith, fear
and vocation, it takes more than an iron fist banging on the table to pull
things together. For while the rookie error many managers / leaders commit is
to go straight for the “banging”, in important matters such as this strength of
character demonstrated with unswerving determination will often bring your
flock closer to you and mould your community as a whole. If nothing else, the
film is a fascinating look into the mechanisms of leadership. And faith – in God,
but more importantly, in yourself and your community.
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