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Into Great Silence (Two-Disc Set)
Additional DVD options | Edition | Discs | Price | New from | Used from |
DVD
May 8, 2007 "Please retry" | — | 1 |
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| — | — |
Genre | Drama |
Format | Dolby, Multiple Formats, Color, NTSC, Anamorphic, Subtitled, Widescreen |
Contributor | Philip Groning, The Carthusian Order |
Language | English, French, Latin |
Runtime | 2 hours and 42 minutes |
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Product Description
Product Description
A look inside the quiet life of the Grande Chartreuse Monastery in the French Alps.
Review
"One of the transporting film experiences of this or any other year." --Boston Globe
"The silence captured in this documentary -- a meditative look at life in the Carthusian monastery of the Grande Chartreuse in the French Alps -- may be the most eloquent you'll ever hear. " --San Francisco Chronicle - Walter Addiego
I hesitate, given the early date and the project's modesty, to call Into Great Silence one of the best films of the year. I prefer to think of it as the antidote to all of the others. --A.O. Scott - New York Times
Product details
- Aspect Ratio : 1.85:1
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : Unrated (Not Rated)
- Product Dimensions : 0.6 x 5.4 x 7.5 inches; 3.2 ounces
- Item model number : Z1094
- Director : Philip Groning
- Media Format : Dolby, Multiple Formats, Color, NTSC, Anamorphic, Subtitled, Widescreen
- Run time : 2 hours and 42 minutes
- Release date : October 23, 2007
- Actors : The Carthusian Order
- Subtitles: : English
- Language : Unqualified
- Studio : Zeitgeist Films
- ASIN : B000OYNVOY
- Number of discs : 2
- Best Sellers Rank: #54,977 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #509 in Foreign Films (Movies & TV)
- #1,420 in Documentary (Movies & TV)
- #9,350 in Drama DVDs
- Customer Reviews:
Customer reviews
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Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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I ordered the film on Amazon and waited anxiously for it's arrival.
When it finally came in the mail and I was able to sit down and watch the nearly 3 hours of a film that has no narration, no accompanying score or soundtrack (the only music in the film is the Gregorian chants sung by the monks), and such a non-traditional movie structure that you lose all concept of time while you are viewing it, I was utterly surprised by just how watchable, and even more, how enjoyable and hypnotic I found this film to be.
In a time when big Hollywood studios are releasing films that try to give the audience MORE...more action, more special effects, more sex, louder
sound effects, and soundtracks that seem to almost never cease throughout the course of a film, Into Great Silence and it's director Philip Groning have taken this film in the complete opposite direction and succeeded on a level where, in my opinion, 90% of films coming out of Hollywood fail. Into Great Silence is a masterpiece of film and should be required viewing for all producers and directors; the same big studio directors and producers who constantly try to give the audience more (which has accounted for the extended lengths of so many films nowadays) when, in fact, what these producers should really be doing is scaling back their grandiose ambitions to focus on painting a picture with story, pacing, and character development, a lá Into Great Silence.
German director Philip Groning spent 6 months living in the famed Carthusian monastery with these cloistered and devout monks, learning about their daily routines and rituals. When Groning and his cameras left the monastery he came away with so much more than just showing these monks in prayer, deep meditation, and at work. Groning has somehow managed to suspend time with Into Great Silence, and we move along with the film at the pace of the monks, not the pace of the camera shots.
There are some truly beautiful and poignant moments in this film such as the first time we are allowed to view a few minutes of the Night Office, which is a hymnal prayer and meditation session that these monks engage in on a nightly basis and usually lasts anywhere from 2-3 hours. Scenes that also come to mind are the sledding scene towards the end of the film when we realize that these monks truly are just men and regular people, like you and I, with the exception that they have acquired such a loving devotion to Christ and have trained themselves in a daily discipline that includes so many worldly sacrifices that most people just cannot fathom it. The Carthusian monks really do live by the old adage, "Be in the world but be not of the world."
A scene towards the end of the film shares a perspective on life and faith from one of the monks who we have been seeing throughout the movie but only in the background. He is blind, and while we are not directly informed, we believe he has been blind for his whole life. When this monk tells the camera that he thanks God everyday for his blindness because it has been for the betterment of his soul, even the most skeptical viewer would not be able to hide the feeling of raw emotion at these words and admiration for this old monk who has dedicated his life to the service of Christ in the monastery.
I could go on for several more paragraphs writing about and describing the beauty of this film and how it just seems to get so much right whereas most films coming out of Hollywood nowadays just seem to get so much wrong, but instead, I will just leave you with the exhortation to SEE THIS FILM! I promise you will not be disappointed. Be patient and let the slow and progressive pacing of the film slow down your own hurried and racing mind, which, until you watch this film, you may not have even known was racing and hurried in the first place.
This is cinema at its purest and most exalted. It is hard to place into words a film, which is wrought in silence. For 162-minutes you will be allowed a glimpse of the ascetic strictness of the monks. I do not see this as a documentary, but an immersion into an entire way of life that will have no voiceovers or explanations. Just a small part of our time spent in transcendent meditation on the human pursuit of meaning, on man as a religious and social creature, on the form and function of symbols, ritual and traditions. And on the rhythms of work and prayer, night and day, winter and spring.
It is a beautiful film where everyone will take away something different and hopefully fulfilling. The film will not allow you to enter the world of the monks, but to just view it from the outside. You will see the day-to-day activities from season to season and be able to form your own opinions and conclusions. Many may at first experience impatience at the repetitions and variations encountered, but allow yourself time to adjust to the contemplative pace. And be witness to the ordinary moments that taken together are a representation of grace.
The Carthusian monks who are the subjects of this documentary do not have a great deal to say. Living in a light-filled stone charterhouse in a picturesque valley in the French Alps, they bind themselves to a vow not of literal silence but of extreme reticence. We view the daily lives, prayers and routines of this most ascetic of Catholic Orders founded in 1084 by Saint Bruno. The monks, because of their vow of poverty, subsist on very little. They pray aloud at times and sing solemn Gregorian chants, but they rarely speak, except on there Monday walks.
The monks in their rigor and discipline find their freedom and fulfillment. Your view on the monastery and our world will change as the movie progresses. And isn't that what a good movie or book is suppose to accomplish? It is a world of yesteryear as it existed one thousand years ago, where some modern technology has crept in, as you will see. In our modern world of moral decay this gives us a window to a traditional Catholic existence. A two thousand year tradition of following the Desert Fathers into a way of life that is rarely, if ever, seen.
I feel that this film is about the presence of God, a God who is there for those who seek Him with their whole hearts. In the film only a blind monk offers some simple but piercing observations on Christian happiness, abandonment to God's providential care, and the tragedy of the loss of faith and meaning in the modern world.
This film is not only for Catholics, it is for everyone in the world to see and benefit from.
Top reviews from other countries
Pero entre las opciones que da Amazon hay una de Estados Unidos (en la portada aparece alabada por A.O. Scott, de The New York Times) que es de región 1 NTSC. Para Europa, los lectores de DVD son de región 2.
Aunque Amazon indica que es de Reino Unido.
いたことを知りました。もう少し待てば良かったと思います。
修道活動と生活音以外の音のない世界、今回も途中で寝てしまいました。
厳しい戒律の集団生活の中で、志を同じくする人々がほとんど会話を交わす
ことなく個室で生きる観想修道会、並大抵の精神力ではないと思います。
沈黙を超えたところに信仰の目的があるのだと思いますが、そこには私の
知らない喜びがあると想像します。世俗では沈黙行は難しいと感じます。
このフィルムがなければ外部の誰も目にすることが出来なかった、
大変貴重な作品なので、星5つとさせて頂きます。
Philip Gröning hat uns einen Film geschenkt, der eine gewöhnlich verschlossene Welt zeigt. Karthäuser-Mönche schweigen. Obwohl sie unter dem Dach eines Klosters leben, treffen sie sich nur zum gemeinsamen Arbeiten, Beten und Singen. Die restliche Zeit verbringen sie einsam und schweigend in ihrer Zelle, in der sie auch die Mahlzeiten einnehmen. Nur einmal in der Woche verlassen sie das Kloster für einen mehrstündigen Spaziergang. Dann unterhalten sie sich und lernen sich so besser kennen.
Der von der Stille gequälte Zuschauer wird sich fragen, welchen Sinn ein solches Leben hat. Aber diese Frage ist nicht ehrlich gemeint. Sie offenbart nur die Suche nach Ablehnungsgründen.
Wer hingegen den Weg zu seinem ursprünglichen Ich sucht, wird durch diesen Film einmal mehr verstehen, dass er zunächst die äußeren Reize abzuschalten lernen muss. Dazu muss man nicht Karthäuser-Mönch werden. Aber man kann von ihnen lernen, um dann eigene Wege finden, die mit dem normalen Leben in Einklang zu bringen sind.
Fazit.
Wer einen fast dreistündigen, fast sprachlosen Film aushält, in dem nur die Verrichtungen der Mönche dokumentiert werden, wird auch die Kraft spüren, die von ihm ausgeht. Mehr muss man dazu nicht schreiben.
Die DVD enthält im Bonusteil Texte, die man vorher lesen sollte, wenn man das Leben der Karthäuser-Mönche und die historischen Hintergründe nicht kennt.