Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Roland E. Zwick What's this? A two-hour-and-forty-one-minute long documentary on an order of monks who have taken a vow of silence - a film almost completely devoid of speech and musical accompaniment and fully devoid of narration? How audacious a concept is that?! "Into Great Silence" focuses on some Carthusian monks who reside at the Grande Chartreuse Monastery tucked away in a remote corner of the soaring French Alps. With rare exceptions, all we hear for the duration of the movie are natural sounds (birds chirping, water dripping, leaves rustling, feet shuffling, brooks babbling), the tolling of bells, and the signing of Latin hymns. We watch as the monks go through their well-oiled rituals of meditation, prayer and daily chores. With the visuals having to carry so much of the weight of the film, I'm happy to report that the imagery is often quite stunning, resembling nothing less than beautifully composed landscapes and warmly-lit still-lifes brought to sudden life. And, at times, "Into Great Silence" serves as a welcome balm to our aching ears which seem to be under almost constant assault from the cacophony of the modern world.Yet, just how "great" you'll feel the silence is may depend on whether you view cloistering itself as the ultimate act of piety, devotion and self-denial, or as an act of cowardice and selfishness, giving a person permission to retreat from the harsh realities of life and to relinquish all personal responsibility for making the world a better place in which to live. It may take a special person to be both willing and able to shun so much of the pointless jabbering that consumes our lives on a daily basis, but there's still something to be said for being a part of the one species on the planet that is able to truly engage one another through our speech and words. That seems, somehow, too precious a gift to be traded in so cheaply for a trouble-free life."Into Great Silence" is certainly not for all audiences, and it does go on way too long, no doubt about that. Some viewers will find the movie refreshing and therapeutic, while others will be driven out of their skulls with boredom. To be honest, I had a little of both reactions while watching the film. Congratulate yourself on your enlightenment and superhuman patience if you find yourself thoroughly entranced by the experience, but there's no real reason to feel like a Philistine if you don't.

fwomp INTO GREAT SILENCE is more a sleep aid than a documentary. I think a more appropriate title would've been Into Great Boredom. Not for the men that chose to go to the Grand Chartreuse Monastery, but for how long, how slow, and how incredibly uninteresting this film was.The only positives are some beautiful shots of the monastery with the French Alps as a backdrop, and how completely immersed the camera gets the viewer into the life of solitude and silence that these men purposely confine themselves. But that's it.Running well over two-and-a-half hours, the film could've easily been cut by half and still held the same level of immersion. Too many lingering shots on monks kneeling in prayer, monks praying in the dark (with the red candle of God ever-present), monks walking through hallways, monks sitting near windows, and just an otherwise tremendous amount of overly indulgent quiet (from the production standpoint). I know that the title has the word "silence" in it, and that these men take a vow as such when they enter the monastery, but I think a bit of interaction, explanation, or some sort of definitive purpose would've made the film much more enjoyable.Before I get plowed asunder by those that enjoyed this film, let me make it clear that I understood the nature of it. The silence. The length of the film in order to show the dedication one must have to go into the monastery. The unquestioning loyalty you must have in "the divine spirit." I get it. It's just that it's not that interesting on film.

Danusha_Goska Save Send Delete I was ready to stop watching "Into Great Silence" after forty minutes.I did not have a problem with the film's slowness, although it is slow. I did not have a problem with the religious topic, or the arty shots. I was uncomfortable being a voyeur."Into Great Silence" has no voice-over narration, no explanation of monastery life, and no narrative structure. Much of the time, the viewer is staring at monks attending to their daily functions: praying, eating, doing manual labor.Given that nothing comes between us and them, I felt uncomfortable -- that I was staring at strangers. So, I stopped watching.I thought about it for a while, and reminded myself that the monks had agreed to be filmed, and were not being filmed surreptitiously.I began watching the film again, and liked it better. While watching it, I moved into its slow pace. My expectation level meshed with the film's pace.This is the best film I've seen for capturing the kind of life one lives in primitive isolation -- a life I was lucky enough to live for a while myself. Motes of dust in shafts of sunlight, the sound a pair of scissors make while cutting through cloth, the physical stamina needed to complete labor, the taste of the most common repasts: all become all-encompassing, without addictive modern society to suck at one's soul.that the film also conveys the monks' commitment to Christ is a bonus. The more people who come to understand what Christianity is, the better. The monastery life is not the only expression of Christianity, but it is a significant one. Monks, as historians remind us, created the foundations of Europe, not just in their scholarship and their faith, but also in their industry and agriculture.I hope viewers will give the film a chance, including viewers who might become impatient with its slowness and its difference at first.

tenshin-3 This week marks the release, at least in the U.S., of the documentary Into Great Silence, which takes us inside of the Grande Chartreuse Monastery in the French Alps and is the home of a group of Carthusian monks.Thankfully, filmmaker Phillip Gronig, has ignored every "rule" when it comes to making a documentary. Not counting the monks chanting of the Divine Office, in the 164 minutes of the film scarcely 10 minutes worth is devoted to dialog. There are no expository narrations nor even the customary music soundtrack that one would expect. Instead one is made privy to the rare opportunity to glimpse a world seldom seen outside of the order itself. It is deep, wonderful journey into the Great Silence of the monks life. A silence where the still, small voice of God can be heard.Modern lives, like ours, are often so full of noise, that the silence that we experience here can almost be overwhelming at times. After all, most of us try to fill each waking hour it seems with some distraction. Just look at the time we spend watching television or listening to the radio. It's almost, at least in my case, that we fear what the silence will say to us. Even our prayers are often so full of words that we can drown out what God has to say back to us. This film has echoed some of the feelings that I have been trying to come to grips with recently. It has reinforced that great need in me to listen. I am beginning to understand, slowly I might add, that the more I listen, both to God and to others around me, the more they have to say to me. So often I get caught up in trying to "say the right thing" that I end up using the time that other people are talking trying to think what I should say next. This is no more true than in my prayer life.The watching of this film has been something of a retreat for me. Where all of my desires, pleadings, and static that normally occupies my time with God was replaced. Replaced by the Great Silence."Oh Lord, you have seduced me. And I was seduced."Just as a side note, there is a second disc that accompanies the movie which has more background on the order along with a wonderful segment of the Night Office. The "extras" on this disc tell you just enough to where you will probably want to know more. A couple of excellent books in English that I can recommend are Halfway to Heaven by Robin Bruce Lockhart, the recent An Infinity of Little Hours by Nancy Klein Maguire, and Carthusian Spirituality the writings of Hugh of Balma and Guido De Ponte.