A close-to-universal acclaim, a 10-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Festival and as the most profitable French movie, no one saw 'Of Gods and Men" coming in 2010, but everyone eventually went to see it."Of Gods and Men" is the cinematically sober yet emotionally powerful chronicle of one of the saddest chapters of the Algerian Civil War in the 90's: the assassination of seven monks in the Atlas Mountains by an Islamist group that has nothing to envy from today's routinely barbarity that shake the Middle East without that generating much reaction. The mention of the context is crucial because any misinformed viewer might misunderstand the story's purpose and take it as another illustration of the Islam's innate barbarity. Indeed, this is one of these movies that might be appreciated for the wrong reasons.So, it's all to the credit of director Xavier Beauvois to play fair with the facts and not portray the crime as an isolated one, it's a part of a whole barbaric chain of events that blindly touched the whole of ALgeria. 1996 and 1997 were perhaps the darkest years of its history as hundreds of thousands of civilians, generally villagers were mercilessly killed and in the most gruesome way, hatchets, throat slit, and so forth. Of course, it would take half the review to enumerate the causes of these movements, the mujaheddin in Afghanistan sponsored by the CIA, and whose faction from Algeria had time to make their bones before coming back to Algeria, where the cancellation of the Islamist party rung like a Declaration of War.I think this secretly sponsored extremism is the real core of the problem (look at ISIS now), more than the tormented post-colonialism relationships. The citizenship of these monks had no more relevance than for the Croatian workers who were savagely assassinated under the sight of a poor Algerian. The only relevance the Algerian War might have is that Christian, the prior priest, played by Lambert Wilson, was a former military, who served in the War and thought he had to stay in order to establish some sort of reconciliation. But Xavier Beauvois doesn't waste the script to analyze each one's backstory, it's about eight priests who know their lives are at stakes, and must make a choice: leaving or dying.It's a story of an ethical conflict. The monks belong to a Cistercian order and they made a vow of stability. The threat is like the test of their own faith. Of course, the vow of stability mustn't be at the expenses of their own lives; the sacredness of life, let alone of these eight men, measure up to higher levels than the strict obedience to their vows. But the monks found God in the Atlas Mountains, they fulfilled their duty by providing medical care to the villagers, Michael Lonsdale, plays Luc, the elderly priest and doctor of the group. They also insist on not interfering with people's faith. In fact, Michel is as literate on Quran as on the Bible.The rest of their time consists on religious chants, prayers and deep contemplation. Still, Xavier Beauvois never tries to make them look pretty on the screen. No traveling or other shots, its mainly steady fixes where all you have to do is contemplate the monks, and watching them, absorbed by their thoughts and their doubts. This is a great choice as it allows the movie to embrace the very lifestyle of their protagonists, and allow us, as viewers to penetrate the moral conflict that drives the narrative. These stoic moments then becomes the foil to more powerful and thrilling scenes where they all discuss whether they should leave because of the threats. And they don't share the same views at all.Of course, the film isn't just all talking and contemplation and features many strong interactions with the Algerian people, from the military people who asked them to leave for their own good to the terrorists themselves. It's not one of these moments where you're wishing for the good guys to take the right decision, but where you understand what lies behind these very decisions. Why does Luc give medicine to terrorists? Why does he pray for the soul of one of them murderers? Why do they ignore the warning of the Army, exasperated to see them helping the terrorists? Well the answers to these questions are not given, but simply illustrated by their decision to stay. Their life has a meaning, and so will their death. It all leads to the point where the monks interpreted the threat as some test from God, as if it gave its full meaning to their presence in Algeria. Religion is all made of symbols, and they didn't just look at the risks, but at the way they perceived their duty on Earth, as if soul-preservation counted more than life. …. And that very soul they preserve is of the Christ. It's like the mystery of the incarnation finally revealing some of its mysteries. This is one of the few metaphysical moments of the film, but it's immediately followed by its beautiful emotional climax, a last dinner that carries the same resonance as Jesus' last supper; with the music of "Swan Lake" in the background.After having kept a restrained tone all through the film, shooting at respectful distance, we finally get the luxury of close-ups and music, as we can see these monks in full faces, smiling and shedding a few emotional tears, not because they just defied barbarity, it's not about proving their worth as soldiers as God, it's not even about testing the empathy required by their faith to its most sincere limit. It's because they're finally in peace with themselves.At a time where you couldn't necessarily triumph in the war against barbarity, you could at least be in peace with yourself, and that was enough a victory.

The film explores love as truth and not so many of the false ways it has been tagged through the years. The is the love at the highest level of consciousness, the holistic height of spiral dynamic's human development scale. It's no surprise that critics see it as a story of religious fundamentalism and all of the unfavorable things it implies. It is hardly a perfect piece of film making. It could stand editing in several places, reduce its length, and provide a better understanding as to what was going on in the civil war in Algiers in the 1990s, when a monastery was seen as a colonial intrusion. The film was not short on excellent performances by its old actors, and beautiful photography of what I understand was actually Morocco. But the chief achievement of the picture lies in its depiction of the power of trans-personal spirituality and what that means in shaping lives and conditions.

"Of Gods And Men" a.k.a "Des hommes et des dieux" is a French film that centers on the monastery of Tibhirine.During the civil war in Algeria in 1996,nine Trappist monks lived in harmony with a largely Muslim population until seven of them were kidnapped and died to unknown circumstances.It features a cast led Lambert Wilson and Michael Lonsdale.The title of the movie was taken from Psalm 82:6–7 that states, "I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes."It was also loosely based on the experiences of the Cistercian monks of Tibhirine in Algeria from 1993 until their kidnapping in 1996.This is a touching movie about a group of monks who live ordinary lives that goes through a tough test when the civil war in Algeria happened.Their faith was tested when they were kidnapped by religious extremists and they have shown they are willing to give their life for God and for self-sacrifice when religious violence occurred.It was also a good spiritual film that is compelling as it will allow the viewer to undergo self-introspection especially when it comes to their spiritual life and how much as they willing to sacrifice when it comes to God and this aspect of this life. It also deals very well with the negative effects of the hate that people have for each other due to differences in spiritual beliefs.Overall,we are treated to a good film about spirituality and religious hatred.

Based on a true story about Monks realizing their end is near at the height of the Algerian Civil War in the 1990s, Of Gods and Men, won the Cannes Film Festival's coveted Best Film prize, so I went with heightened anticipation of a meaningful experience. Not so much.I have never seen more amazing casting of amazing faces that move me. Each monk's face told a story, but I never got to hear what it was. Two monks, Brother Christian and the medic, Brother Luc, had stories which we got to learn but not experience. Christian was a scholar of the Quran, and Luc was a medic who healed the Muslims from the village, whom he clearly loved. But the others looked like they had amazing stories, but never got to share them. The way the cinematographer held the camera in a close-up of each of the monks for a very, very, long time, over and over again, made for an amazing set of portraits that would have been great as an exhibit in a museum or gallery, but it never came together as a film. I kept thinking that Annie Leibovitz would have loved the opportunity to shoot them, but she would have given their hard-life lines some sort of context. As far as the acting went, my feeling was that the director kept saying, "walk slower or look earnestly to left of camera." Like the portraits of the monks, each scene was shot in a still life set up that made you feel like you were in a fabulous museum with amazing artists, but the director never brought them all together into a story. The religious scenes of prayer and celebration were just too long and drawn out. And don't tell me you were trying to make the point that a good chunk of daily time went into the routines that make monks monks. I know that, but you can't shove it down my throat that way.Please don't get me wrong. It's worth seeing, just for the amazing shots and faces. But don't expect to understand anything about what was happening during that tumultuous time, and don't expect to walk away really feeling like there was a point to it all.I am beginning to think that if you do something different, and shoot it really, really well, then you can win lots of awards. Dialogue matters in a film. It's part of the weave that makes a story, and it was sorely missing in Of Gods and Men. To win Cannes with no dialog says, "Shame on Cannes." And the same can be said of the plot. You knew from the get-go what was going to happen, and they just took a long time to tell you that you had it right from the opening scene.