I recommend viewing the whole of "Into Great Silence". (I wrote about the film some time ago.) My own favourite part of the film is shown on this clip on YouTube. It is a breathtaking witness of "the peace that the world cannot give."
Here is a link to the DVD on UK Amazon:
5 comments:
This is quite a coincidence Father. I watched this with some friends on Thursday night on my laptop when we had a picnic.
It is a very powerful piece of movie making - I have told media colleagues about it who like film studies to watch it. I hope it will evangelise them.
Great film! I just watched it on Netflix last week.
Simply beautiful.
(however, the communal mass did cause me to do a double-take. The "chalice" looked like a two-handed beer stein. Rather unCarthusian.)
Great film! I just watched it on Netflix last week.
Simply beautiful.
(however, the communal mass did cause me to do a double-take. The "chalice" looked like a two-handed beer stein. Rather unCarthusian.)
My favorite part, hands down, was when each monk was placed in front of the unblinking camera for what would have seemed an eternity to me. In several instances it seemed like a real glimpse into their very souls.
And of those, my favorite moment was when a most ancient monk, lying in his bed, was subjected to this strange inquest.
There he was, obviously ancient, decrepit, skeletal, and after a few moments out of the ruins of his face and eyes came a flash of great joy and, I thought at the time, a kind of victorious jubilation. The triumph of the solitary long distance runner when eternal victory is just inches away. To me it was the most profound possible confirmation of the worth of the contemplative life.
In regards to the Carthusians, Parkminster has a great website.
The film,"Into Great Silence" did nothing for me. It was like viewing life in what almost seemed like a mental institution.
Edward P. Walton
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