Into Great Silence
By Jérôme
Patoux
Posted
March 30,
2007
Are we in
search of spirituality? Or, maybe, are we in need of
spirituality?
What is even
more fascinating than the documentary Into Great Silence
itself is the unanimous acclaim it has received all around the
world. Modern movie-goers accept to watch a three-hour-long
documentary, shot on grainy film with no artificial lighting, no
music score, almost no talking, and embrace the resulting
journey as their most exhilarating experience in years! They
take a break from the recent series of action-packed, fast-paced
war, spy, and political fiction movies (some of them pretty
good) and find themselves fascinated, intrigued, or transformed
by this silent journey into the heart of meditative
spirituality. What happened? What kind of magic has been
conjured?
The German
filmmaker Philip Gröning spent six months in the Grande
Chartreuse of the French Alps, a monastery in which a group of
monks isolate themselves in the deepest silence, in search of an
authentic relationship with God and the divine. He follows their
daily routine, their time for crafts and meals, and their time
for prayer and meditation. The technical limitations imposed to
him by the monks themselves (no artificial light, no crew, no
intrusive equipment) create a gloomy atmosphere that accentuates
the austerity of their ascetic life. Yet, out of the damp
darkness and out of the mist of our own meditative wanderings,
surprising moments of brightness and simple joy (some of them
pretty funny) emerge like a spring of refreshing water. We have
no words to describe our reaction, uncertain of what has been
moved in the depths of our soul.
In all
times, monks (Catholic or Buddhist) have been criticized for
their passivity, their self-centered preoccupation with
introspection and inner peace. What good are they to the reality
of suffering, war, inequity, enslavement, and poverty? What
glory in the seclusion and isolation from the real world?
Gröning’s documentary may offer an answer. It reaches beyond
images, beyond story telling, beyond aesthetics. Its universal
appeal and unanimous acclaim point to our deep inner
questioning, our need for spirituality and guidance. The quest
for the divine by a few, however extreme and ascetic, is a
beacon for the many, a light that sends us back to the meaning
of our very own existence. That light keeps shining at the
Grande Chartreuse, as in many other monasteries, kept alive in
silence for us to remember, to find our way back in times of
darkness. Into Great Silence is fascinating indeed, and
timely.
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2006 All content property of European Weekly unless where otherwise
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