Enjoy It While It Lasts
Project 365 here 365Pieces
Dec 24th, 2010 @ 11:57 pm
Of Gods And Men
Come on guys! We’re nearly done with these reviews!
Now, once again I just need to clarify that I am reviewing all these movies because they are all deserved of a post to themselves. Otherwise I would have just thrown them all together in some “Winter Movies” type post. Anyway, this next review is deserved of two posts to itself, but I’ll just give it the one. I give you the perfect Of Gods and Men!
The second great French film to be released in 2010, Xavier Beauvois’ Of Gods and Men won the Grand Prix at Cannes this year. Like A Prophet that came out in January (it also won the Grand Prix in 2009), OG&M proves that French cinema is going throgh an absolute golden age.
The film follows the true story of a group of Fench Trappist Monks in Algeria during a time of unrest in the country. These Christian monks live in a largely Muslim town but everyone gets along and there is so division. The monks supply the town with medical supplies and in some cases, shoes. It is not giving anything away to say that the Monks are eventually killed by a group of Islamic terrorists who try to take hold of the town. The screenplay focuses on the lead-up to their murders and how they deal with the threat that faces them (Should they leave the monastery for their own safety or stay to help the vulnerable people of the town?).
The tag line of the film is “In the face of terror, their greatest weapon was faith”. Now, to me at least, this makes the film seem a tad preachy. I was delighted, however, by the absolute neutrality of the film. It doesn’t throw a Catholic agenda down your throat. Obviously the terrorists are portrayed badly. I mean come on, they’re terrorists! But this isn’t an anti-Islam film at all. It is a movie about religion and faith, but above all else OG&M is a study of courage and conviction in the face of death.
The film opens to
Tra la la I will finish this soon I just want to have it published on Christmas Eve and not on the 25th sorry!
