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hyped garbage

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Was a former postulant monk in a Benedictine community and, while the life was not for me, have been fascinated by all things monastic ever since. Saw this advertised somewhere a couple of years ago, wrote down the title - and finally got around to getting the DVD. After the first five or ten minutes - you start wondering if the sound is broken on the TV, until it dawns on you that you are entering into The Great Silence. I was deeply moved by the brothers, old, young and in between who participated in this film. For someone who wants to get an experiential sense of monastic spirituality, in its most ancient form - this film is a wonderful opportunity. How amazing to convey so much, with almost no words. A Beautiful film.

INTO GREAT SILENCE is more a sleep aid than a documentary. I think a more appropriate title would've been Into Great Boredom. Not for the men that chose to go to the Grand Chartreuse Monastery, but for how long, how slow, and how incredibly uninteresting this film was.The only positives are some beautiful shots of the monastery with the French Alps as a backdrop, and how completely immersed the camera gets the viewer into the life of solitude and silence that these men purposely confine themselves. But that's it.Running well over two-and-a-half hours, the film could've easily been cut by half and still held the same level of immersion. Too many lingering shots on monks kneeling in prayer, monks praying in the dark (with the red candle of God ever-present), monks walking through hallways, monks sitting near windows, and just an otherwise tremendous amount of overly indulgent quiet (from the production standpoint). I know that the title has the word "silence" in it, and that these men take a vow as such when they enter the monastery, but I think a bit of interaction, explanation, or some sort of definitive purpose would've made the film much more enjoyable.Before I get plowed asunder by those that enjoyed this film, let me make it clear that I understood the nature of it. The silence. The length of the film in order to show the dedication one must have to go into the monastery. The unquestioning loyalty you must have in "the divine spirit." I get it. It's just that it's not that interesting on film.

If you can sit still for the nearly three hours of this film, it's almost guaranteed to bring down your heart rate, maybe make you want to spend more time in the high mountains or in the snow or contemplating spring flowers in some isolated place. Into Great Silence (Die Große Stille) is a documentary of unusual austerity and beauty, like La Grande Chartreuse itself, the Carthusian order's central monastery high in the French Alps that German filmmaker Philip Gröning has recorded. His film is steeped in a unique atmosphere; there is no narration. To have provided any would have interrupted the prevailing silence that is characteristic of the place. This method -- the withholding of all commentary -- can work fine for a documentary, especially where there is a lot of dialogue, as in the recent, highly admired Iraq in Fragments; or where the activities shown are familiar, such as the classroom scenes so meticulously filmed in Être et avoir (To Be and to Have), an un-narrated chronicle of a rural French elementary school. But lovely and calming as Into Great Silence is, it preserves the atmosphere at the cost of failing to penetrate its subjects' inner lives. How well can we ever understand spirituality? But above all, how well can we understand it from visuals, without any words describing the inner experience? There are other specifics that Gröning, who was forced to work virtually alone and without any artificial light, chooses not to detail. A monk's life is rigorously organized, but here that schedule isn't specified. Editing flits about arbitrarily between shots of monks praying alone or in the chapel, external landscape shots; shots of wood being chopped, food being prepared or delivered to cells, snow being shoveled, robes being made, heads being shaved, books being read at cell desks. And there's an initiation ritual, plain chants, poetically blurry close-ups of candle flames or fruit. There's even a moment of laughter and high spirits when a group of younger monks slide down a hillside in the snow (in their boots, without skis or snowboards). Bells sound, and the monks bustle about from one activity to another, but according to what system is left to the imagination. In one shot a monk sits in front of a big desk strewn with bills and documents. He just stares at them. What does it mean? Several times the succession of scenes is interrupted with a short series of shots of individual monks staring into the camera, wordlessly, of course. There is one long shot of a monk who may be dying. He too stares into the camera. These moments are rather spooky. Despite the presence of prescription eyeglasses, shoe goo, electricity for lights and an electric razor in the "Razora" room -- even, despite wood stoves in the cells, the sighting of a single radiator -- the place has a thoroughly medieval feel, and that's spooky too. Every so often in large letters there is a saying of Jesus, such as "He among you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple," flashed in French on the screen, as in a silent film, and these are repeated, randomly. But again, is this randomness appropriate in depicting a life that is anything but haphazard in its structure? After an hour the film shows that the monks, though they lead daily lives that are silent and isolated except for chapel services, do also get together on Sundays for a communal meal followed by a walk and a chat, rain or shine. When given this opportunity, they don't analyze the world situation. They discuss minutiae of the order's regulations. Later, a blind old monk with impressive down-drooping eyebrows is the only one to address the camera directly. He speaks of blindness and death, describing both as welcome gifts from God, one received, another still to come.There is a significant omission. This place, begun in the early eleventh century, rebuilt in the seventeenth, produces a famous liqueur whose sale supports it; but we don't see the monks doing this work. Gröning says the process is too complicated and would distract from the rest. Distract from what? From the effect he wants to create; not from a picture of what the place is about. Gröning underlines the uniquely rare opportunity he's sharing with us by explaining at the end that he asked for permission to film in 1984, but was held off from doing so till 2000. Maybe he thought since he had to wait so long, he should make a long film. But the extra time doesn't mean deeper insight. At most it is the prolongation of a mood. Rather it seems an outgrowth of the random editing system, an unwillingness or inability to cut or to organize. Off-putting and tight-lipped though this film is, it will no doubt stand as one of the more distinctive of recent documentaries. But it inspires as much irritation as reverence. It's not utterly clear that Gröning is the ultimate guide to this world -- or to any world, for that matter.There are many paradoxes and ambiguities in a monastic existence. The Carthusian order is austere. Its life is one of renunciation and penitence. In this austerity there is a certain luxury. The monks choose it willingly. If they can stick with it (many apparently don't), it is what they want, an ideal setting for the uninterrupted contemplation of God. And it is a peaceful life, a safe life, a life cut off from the worries of cities and families and all uncertainty. Monks don't prepare their weekday meals in their cells any more; they're brought on a cart. Bare and spare and strict though it is, La Grande Chartreuse is in some sense the most spectacular of grand hotels.

I've just awakened from a beautiful dream. Before I slept I came from an Italian restaurant in which I was with my business manager and we talked about various subjects and we gossiped about our personal lives and feasted upon a sumptuous meal. Before we went to that Italian restaurant we were in Santa Monica's Nuart Theater and feasted upon a very poetic, mesmerizing, entrancing, seductive and breathtaking film.INTO GREAT SILENCE is not for the popcorn flick fan. If you're into blockbusters and that's your taste then you probably won't like this film. You must be a staunch art house film-goer. You must be a sophisticated film watcher to truly appreciate this film. Your taste level for film must be at a higher level to enjoy this film with little ease. But if you're not any of those and you surrender to this film you will have no doubt a poetic, mesmerizing, hypnotic, sensual, introspective and breathtaking experience.As the story goes, in the early 1980s Philip Groning contacted the Roman Catholic Monks of the Carthusian Order, which was founded in 1084 by St. Bruno of Cologne. The Carthusian Order is reportedly one of the strictest orders of the Roman Catholic church. Although they don't take a vow of silence, the Monks speak only when absolutely necessary and once weekly on walks outside their monastery. The Monks told Groning it was premature and that they would contact him when the time was right. They got back to him nearly a decade and a half and told him they were ready. He was told that only he could enter the monastery and that he could only use natural light. He was also told that there be no musical score or soundtrack. And on top of all that he was told that there would be no interviews and commentaries. With all those restrictions, however, Philip Groning says that those did not affect his intentions for the film. So he spent several months living, working, and filming over 120 hours of life in the French Alps in the Great Charterhouse of the Carthusian Order."Lord you have seduced me, and I was seduced." I wouldn't call INTO GREAT SILENCE a documentary, because the film INTO GREAT SILENCE is an experience. It plays on every sense and it entrances you into using your intangible senses as well. It lives up to its name as there is hardly any dialogue and interviews. And there are absolutely no commentaries and voice-overs. You don't hear a human voice until 20 minutes into the film. But the rare human voice in the film makes you appreciate the sounds of nature that surround that quiet place in the French Alps. You experience the poetry of the sound of the snow falling, melting, and dripping. The sound of bells tolling and rain dropping creates a melody. And the sound of Monks footsteps are like a serenade. But the Gregorian chants sung by these Monks are so hypnotic, haunting, and entrancing that it seduces you to surrender to their world.And the film supplies a cinematic visual buffet. This film must be seen on the big screen. There is not one single frame in the film that can't be a featured photograph in some art museum. Every shot stimulates the eye, which in turn stimulates your heartbeat to a rhythm, which makes your body participate in that GREAT SILENCE. The occasional flashes of Bible verses, "Lord you have seduced me, and I was seduced" and "Anyone who does not give up all he has cannot be my disciple." Create a time of pause for one to reflect.The narrative of the film follows several Monks. One of them an African novice who gives up everything he has to join the order. Another, a young Monk who has given up everything he owns and is new to the order. But how much did they really give up? We are reminded of the outside world by a single airliner flying above. And to contrast the silence of the Monks we glimpse tourists or pilgrims from afar. The film also follows an elderly Monk who takes care of the garden and grounds and a blind elderly Monk at the end of his life. When one watches these Monks and is drawn into their life one sees the "joyfulness" of their penitence. The rhythm of their life is as entrancing as the Gregorian chants they sing. The peaceful serenity of their world and surroundings does indeed seduce one.The film does not aim to preach or teach. The film entrances you to experience the world of these Monks as they honestly are. Weather you agree with them or not one sees the sincerity of their prayer, work, mass, rituals, and meal as poetic innocence. One cannot help but experience personal joy as these Monks slide down snowy slopes with their shoes. And while these Monks do give up everything they own, the nature that surrounds them are so breathtakingly priceless that one longs to stay in that peaceful serene place in the French Alps.INTO GREAT SILENCE is indeed a cinematic experience much more than a film documentary for entertainment or educational purposes. The almost three hours of rare dialogue had a very loud and clear point of view. This is how the Monks gave up everything so that they can be God's disciples. And this is how God seduced them and why they are seduced. This is the world of the Monks of the Carthusian Order. The almost three hours, although slow, were needed so that one could immerse in those French Alps with those faithful Monks. And admittedly in the later part of the almost three hour film I was fidgeting. But when it was done. I had wanted to experience it all over again. "Lord you have seduced me, and I was seduced."