Into Great Silence

The French trailer is above. You can find other versions, including the American trailer, here. It is about as moving and as profound a Christian film as I have ever seen. Depressed as one can be about the integrity of the church, the way in which the teachings of Jesus have been distorted and abused by politics, the vulgarity of much contemporary Christianity, the faith endures ... in places like the Grande Chartreuse monastery in the Alps.

I walked a few minutes late into the theater with popcorn, sat down and as I munched my first bite, I realized that I was making the only sound in a packed room. I put the bag down. Two hours and forty minutes of silence followed. Toward the very end of the film, a blind, old monk speaks a few words of such sublime simplicity and love and truth that I am still absorbing them a day later. Go see this film if you can. Along with "Saint of 9/11" it is the finest documentary about real faith that I have seen in recent years. I'd especially recommend it to my many atheist readers. You think you may know Christianity. You probably don't. These monks live it, exude it, breathe it - in the great silence of God, in whom and from whom all goodness and happiness comes.