Of all the movies coming out this weekend, only one movie that I was looking forward to happened not to make it into the theaters.

The movie is “Into Great Silence”,

Nestled deep in the postcard-perfect French Alps, the Grande Chartreuse is considered one of the world’s most ascetic monasteries. In 1984, German filmmaker Philip Gröning wrote to the Carthusian order for permission to make a documentary about them. They said they would get back to him. Sixteen years later, they were ready. Gröning, sans crew or artificial lighting, lived in the monks’ quarters for six months—filming their daily prayers, tasks, rituals and rare outdoor excursions. This transcendent, closely observed film seeks to embody a monastery, rather than simply depict one—it has no score, no voiceover and no archival footage. What remains is stunningly elemental: time, space and light. One of the most mesmerizing and poetic chronicles of spirituality ever created, INTO GREAT SILENCE dissolves the border between screen and audience with a total immersion into the hush of monastic life. More meditation than documentary, it’s a rare, transformative theatrical experience for all.

The reviews are excellent, and a chance to actually feel and be in that environment, albeit through film, is a chance in a lifetime. As a college student, I would spend some of my Saturday mornings going to the cathedral in the morning, in the solitude, just me and the church choir practicing their Gregorian chants… this is what heaven must be like, I’ve always believed this.

Here’s the trailer to the movie,

The New York Times says…

you surrender to “Into Great Silence” as you would to a piece of music, noting the repetitions and variations, encountering surprises just when you think you’ve figured out the pattern. By the end, what you have learned is impossible to sum up, but your sense of the world is nonetheless perceptibly altered.

I hesitate, given the early date and the project’s modesty, to call “Into Great Silence” one of the best films of the year. I prefer to think of it as the antidote to all of the others.

TV Guide says…

a rare chance to really listen to what water sounds like when it drips from a tin bowl, or the watch what patterns raindrops make when they fall on a shallow puddle — purely sensual, cinematic experiences.

What I am hoping this movie will do for me, when I’m able to watch it, is to realize the peace there is in silence. I’m not looking for the workings of this monastery, but rather, just to observe the beauty, the inspiration, and the gift of silence…

Here’s a book (on Amazon) that will give you an even better understanding of Carthusians,

An Infinity of Little Hours: Five Young Men and Their Trial of Faith in the Western World’s Most Austere Monastic Order