Be Very, Very Quiet

I saw Le Grand Silence last night with some friends - a fascinating movie shot in the Chartreuse monestary in France. It was about 2:45, with very little speaking... no narration, certainly no story, just observing the monks following their routine.

Overall impression? Very cool... felt a lot shorter than I had expected, and didn't at all feel like watching somebody's bad vacation footage (3-minute pan of a waterfall with no commentary, before moving on to the parliament buildings), which I had expected. I think I did miss a few minutes, disappearing into my own little world now and again, but not much. And, as far as I know, I didn't fall asleep. It made me think, which I like.

Aesthetically, it was a bit of a mixed bag... the filmmaker was absolutely golden with textures, particularly some close-ups of skin, fabric, and water. And I mean, I almost let out a gasp when the shot is cut kind of golden. He did some nice things with color, too, the most remarkable for me being the contrast of a young monk's shaven skull against the red of a door as he sat to eat his lunch. I know, it doesn't sound like much, which is why it's a movie, not a book. It was a stunning shot.

He did, however, have some issues on the "special effects" front. WAY too much of the film was shot either in a very, very grainy film or a simulation of that, and not just dark, indoor shots where you may expect it, but outdoor, daylight shots that were completely indistinct from the overwhelming presence of the grain. It was a mess, and it happened way too often.

I think that he also had trouble getting across the "journey" feeling in a suitable way... there were some clear indications at the start of the film (extremely disorienting shots of clouds, done à la grain, of course) that he wanted to start from a place of confusion and draw order from it. Fair enough, but I think that the rituals and way of life in the monestary is disorienting enough to do that without any other influences.

He also chose to include some fast time lapse and very slow motion shots in the first third, I would guess to highligh that time was both moving faster (because he compresses a year into under three hours) and slower (because... well, that's just the way it works in a monestary where a vow of silence is part of the deal) than we are used to in our own lives. He's right, and the time aspect of it was fascinating, but I would guess that most people coming to see this kind of movie - I mean, let's face it... it's not exactly Batman - don't need this not-so-subtle push to think along those lines. The sublte and surprising drama of the seasons changing as he included shots of the outside was compelling enough, and should have been left to do the job on it's own.

So, as a piece of art, it was okay... worth seeing, but I wouldn't tell all my friends they have to go.

Where it did more for me, though, was in making me think about the spiritual life these men lead, especially relative to the life I lead:
1. When the Bible says to medidate on God's word day and night, is that what it meant? I don't think so... it also says to do a lot of other things that aren't really part of the life of a monk
2. Should I be spending more time in meditation and silence before God? Yeah, I should. And that's a lot of the impact this film had on me... I longed to be there, in that chapel, on my knees with those men, with their dedication to this discipline serving as an inspiration to me.
3. Could I do what they are doing? Could I do it for a day? A weekend? A week or two? A couple of months? Could I take a vow to do it for the rest of my life?

For those of you who also saw it, I'd be pretty interested to hear what you though, too....