Into Great Silence

“Into Great Silence” is a movie about a group of Carthusian monks in the monastery of the Grande Chartreuse in the French Alps. This monastery is considered to be one of the most ascetic in the world. There is very little talking. Mostly, it is the monks praying in Latin. There are very few subtitles. They are not needed as no one is talking much.. It is as if they don’t know we are there to see them at the work they do. Simple. Silent. Very moving.


It’s what a monk does. He prays. All day long. But, also the chopping of wood. The sewing of robes. The growing of vegetables.

..

One of my favorite scenes was one of the monks visiting with the cats in the barn. He sang to them, he played with them. There were times when they had free time together and I was astounded to hear them talking and laughing after having had so much silence with the rest of the movie. They even went sliding down a hill side in the snow. The monks range in age from young men, to middle aged men, to very old men. It almost brought me to tears to see the love and care they give to each other.

But, mostly it was the silence. It was interesting to me that I fidgeted about in the beginning just as I had when I first learned to meditate and everything seemed to itch at once. But, as with my practice of meditation the figeting I experienced eased. Shortly, I settled into the silence as well. Their way of life opened to me and I was able to experience the silence of God with them in a small way. It took me 3 days to see the entire movie. It is four hours long. I’m glad I spent the time.

I watched it as a streaming download from Netflix. The DVD has additional information about the making of the film.