Of Gods and Men
This  French film tells the true tale of Trappist monks living near and serving an impoverished Muslim village in the mountains of Algeria during the 90's.   As they go about their labors growing vegetables and tending to the health of the villagers, the  monks strike an idyllic balance between the faiths.  The Trappists are then faced with a stark choice:  they can  abandon the monastery and their mission to serve the poor or face death at the hands of approaching Muslim fundamentalists.


 My sister Sarah, a historian, likes to pronounce that "Fact is stranger than fiction".   In this case, I think fiction could have improved a critical plot point. While there is some disagreement among the monks about staying in harm's way,  I would have preferred a little more argument on the side of survival.   And while I enjoyed the contemplative pacing of most of the film, it's too long.    When the meandering pace winds down there's little drama to pivot on and the air starts coming out of the tires.  The actors are good, but the monks as characters are not particularly vivid.


Apparently the story was headline news in France in '96; perhaps the filmmakers felt they had to be adulatory or stick to certain known facts.  The heart of the story,  a christian attachment to serving the poor, is a theme I would love to see come back into vogue.  One of the monks was also a Koran scholar and the film is certainly clear about the lack of any religious acrimony between the villagers and the monastery.   A disappointing treatment of some good themes.


Coming Soon: Dogtooth - recommended (for a change)