Film Review: Of Gods and Men (2010)

"A Bedtime Story for Grown-ups"

By: Jordan Overstreet
Published: October 27, 2010

If a good night’s sleep is on your Christmas list, skip the pharmacy and treat yourself to a nap out on the town this January by seeing "Of Gods and Men." Based on true events, Xavier Beauvois’ "Of Gods and Men" seeks to explain the mysterious 1996 execution of seven French Catholic monks by a radical Muslim group in remote Algeria. You would imagine with a logline like that, focusing on the story would be a simple task; however, this 2010 Festival de Cannes Grand Prix winner is visual Ambien.

The French film follows the lives of nine monks, lead by veteran actor Lambert Wilson, who run a monastery in a small, rural area of Algeria. There is nothing sexy about watching what I consider to be the AARP sect of the French Catholics in Algeria. They sing, chant, and pray far more than they actually articulate speech. Granted, monks lead relatively quiet lives, but couldn’t Beauvois have lied just a little and made them more interesting or at least, dare I say it, sexy?

Being an American citizen, I was unfamiliar with the events surrounding the disappearance of these monks. Although any introductory level history class will teach you that French-Algerian relations have been strained (to say the least) since the Algerian fight for their independence in the 1950’s, Beauvois provides the spectator with little background information surrounding the conflict. I am not asking that he hand us a syllabus; I would like for him to consider for the importance of the historical context. Time and time again, we are asked to feel threatened by these radical Muslim sects through the use of violence; however, without any background information or sub-plot to help the audience understand the characters on screen, the threat of death does not feel believable.

As the film wore on, I kept being reminded of Michael Powell’s drama “Black Narcissus,” which follows the trials of a group British nuns, headed by Deborah Kerr, in imperial India. Underscored by the plight of British imperialism in the East, Powell’s film explores how these nuns cannot cohabitate with the wild, untamed environment that surrounds them, proving that the jungles of India are no place for God. However, Powell’s film possesses a sub-plot, a commodity desperately needed in “Of Gods and Men” to allow the spectator to better understand the characters on screen. For instance, when Kerr leaves the Indian jungle at the close of the film, I understand who the woman I see before me is, and when she cries, I can feel empathy for her--she has failed God.

In contrast, Beauvois does not give us a sub-plot or flesh out his characters, but relies on shots of terrorists with guns juxtaposed by the reaction shots of crying monks to bolster our fear of violence. He clearly wants us to see these men as martyrs, but their characters, due to a lack of dialogue, are never really developed, so how are we, as an audience, expected to feel for them? As the cowardly tears pour down the monks’ faces, they lose any hope of appearing heroic and (forgive me for sounding like Lady Macbeth) come off as weak. You would think nine grown men had the balls to fight off a few intruders.

Beauvois attempts to place a French perspective on the end of the Francophone empire and Algeria’s involvement in that plight. With the lack of heroism on the part of the monks, they become cowardly sacrifices that limp along in this lifeless drama, and Beauvois fails at delivering this perspective. “Of Gods and Men” is successful in providing further evidence that the Franco-Algerian conflict is far from dormant. So whatever France and Algeria have going on, I think its time they engage in a dialogue, preferably in a shrink’s office and not on the silver screen.

"Of Gods and Men." Directed by Xavier Beauvois; written for the screen by Xavier Beauvois and Etienne Comar; produced by France 3 Cinema; starring Lambert Wilson, Michael Lonsdale, Olivier Rabourdin, Philippe Laudenbach, Jacques Herlin, Loïc Pichon, Xavier Maly, and Jean-Marie Frin. Rated R for a scene of graphic violence. Run time 2 hours and 2 minuets.