Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 2005
Into Great Silence
Buy Into Great Silence now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'Into Great Silence' is a 2005 documentary film directed by Philip Grning. An international co-production between France, Switzerland and Germany, it is an intimate portrayal of the everyday lives of Carthusian monks of the Grande Chartreuse, a monastery high in the French Alps (Chartreuse Mountains).
Production
Grning proposed the idea for the film to the monks in 1984, but the Carthusians said they wanted time to think about it. They responded to him 16 years later to say they were willing to permit him to shoot the movie if he was still interested. Grning then came alone to live at the monastery, and to stay in the enclosure, where except of the order's aspirants no visitors are allowed, for a total of six months in 2002 and 2003. He filmed and recorded on his own, using no artificial light.
Afterwards, he spent two and a half years editing the film. The final cut contains neither spoken commentary nor added sound effects. It consists of images and sounds that depict the rhythm of monastic life, with occasional intertitles displaying selections from Holy Scripture.Steven D. Greydanus. [http://www.decentfilms.com/articles/groning.html Into Great Silence.] Written for Catholic World Report. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
Reception
The film has experienced generally laudatory reception, with 89% of critics on Rotten Tomatoes responding with positive reviews in the T-metric section and a "certified fresh" rating.[http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/into_great_silence/ Into Great Silence]. Rotten Tomatoes. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Office for Film and Broadcasting listed 'Into Great Silence' as one of the best ten films of 2007.[http://www.usccb.org/movies/topten/topten2007.shtml Ten Best List for the Year 2007]. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Office for Film and Broadcasting. The Carthusian monks themselves loved the film.
Awards
* 'Special Jury Prize' at the 2006 Sundance Festival.* European Film Awards 2006, Documentary - Prix Arte
* Bavarian Film Award best documentary film on Friday, 13. January 2006
* Film Award of the German Association of Film Critics, best documentary film, 2006
* Film Award of the German Film Critics, best documentary film, 2006
* Film Award German Camera, best camera in a documentary film, 2006
* Jury Film Award for the best documentary film in the international festival contest of So Paulo/Rio de Janeiro
* International Ennio Flaiano Award of Pescara in Italy for best camera and best film
See also
*Hermit
*Monasticism
*Camaldoli
*Desert Fathers
References
Buy Into Great Silence now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 2005