the movieGOOMBA

3.5 GOOMBAS

Sound in deliberate absence is a very powerful symbol in film making. It can evoke anxiousness, tranquility, or self discipline; represent anger, meditation, or solace. Chronicling six months of life in the brotherhood, Into Great Silence is a documentary about the life of Carthusian monks at the Grande Chartreuse monastery in France. The filmmaker, Philip Groning first sought film permissions from the monastery 16 years prior to the making of the film, but the monastery declined stating that they were not yet ready. Sixteen years later, they said they were ready. Change works slow in the Catholic church.

Artistic and meaningful, the film is 95% silent, and it is a 100% diagetic movie, meaning no overlaying commentary or narration, no background music, and no sound effects. Shots are long, drawn out, and juxtaposed in a way that creates a senselessness of time. Sometimes its night, then its day. They're praying together in the dark, then they're alone. Its winter, now its spring. Its winter again. He's chopping wood, another monk is working on the garden, another praying and eating lunch. Is this a different day? Now its early morning . . . or is it dusk? One day rolls into another, and we are captured in this spell of seemingly non-existent time. These are how the monks live, and for three hours, so will we.

This is definitely not a popcorn movie. It's a meditation. To paraphrase what the Prior said to the novice entering the Order, "our way is of silence and solitude, and through it becomes one everlasting prayer." Great silence it is.

Art cannot be appreciated if not in the right mindset, so if you do decide to go see it, know that its the experience that makes this film special. That was the only way I was able to sit through a three hour, silent, monk documentary. I wonder how many "Hail Mary's" I could have said in three hours?



For more information on Carthusian monks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carthusian