In this issue...

Towards Ethical Leadership
A Message from the MHI President, Teresa Carale   
 
Feature Article
Mentoring with Murray Hill Institute
By Alice Trimmer
 
Women Transforming Culture: How They Do It
A Smile Can Make a Difference!
By Susan Reyes
 
Cultural Corner
Of Gods and Men, a Film Critique  
By Martha Swanzey

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Murray Hill Institute Newsletter
Fall 2011
Vol. 9 No. 1

Cultural Corner
Of Gods and Men, a Film Critique
By Martha Swanzey

Set in 1995 Algeria, Of Gods and Men, a 2010 French film and winner of Grand Prix honors at the Cannes Film Festival, recounts the difficulties and eventual tragedy of a small group of Cistercian French Trappist monks. The monks live an austere life, beautifully captured by the cinematographer, music editor and performances of the actors. The monks, a remnant perhaps of the French legacy in Algeria, live a precarious balance of their vows, their unique commitment of service to a non-Christian community, and the looming threat of Muslim terrorists. Their presence in a potentially dangerous environment is illustrated by their adoption of civilian clothing whenever their medical or charitable duties take them beyond the temporary safety of their monastic home.

The basic tension of the film involves the question of whether to stay or to go. The atmosphere becomes increasingly more hostile. The government seems unwilling or unable to assure the safety of the monks. The brothers are forced into an examination of their choices, including their original choice to follow the monastic vocation. As an audience, we are required, along with the brothers, to weigh the relative importance of virtues not routinely thought to be in opposition. In serious conclave, conducted with democratic formality, the monks discuss their faith, the love that has brought them to this place, their hope in the good will of their neighbors, and the fortitude they must show if they stay. But against these, there are prudence, temperance and the obligation not to expend their lives in foolish opposition to reality.

Criticism of the film has centered on the length of these debates, their often inconclusive nature, and the overall slow pace of the exposition of character, setting, and situation. Brief scenes of violence and the threat of violence interrupt an essentially quiet film—perhaps to be expected when involving Trappists. The actors are uniformly marvelous, especially Michael Lonsdale as the doctor monk and Lambert Wilson as the young, deeply spiritual leader of the small group. The film is at its best in portraying the routine of monastic life—prayer and labor. The regime is seen as a source of strength in the face of external threat and internal weakness.

Your impulse as a filmgoer watching the monks deliberate, knowing the horrors that terrorism born of fanaticism can bring, is to urge them to get out before they are all murdered. But you know the inevitable denouement. They put their fears aside, stay and (except for two survivors) endure an unmodern experience—martyrdom.

Outside the main reading room of New York City’s Fifth Avenue library is a series of murals depicting the history of literature. One of them shows a group of medieval monks, amidst a burning cloister and attacking barbarians, desperately trying to save their treasured manuscripts—an age–old story of the battle between the life of the spirit and the forces of destruction. Despite its aforementioned shortcomings, Of Gods and Men should be seen for its celebration of faith, love, and the courageous commitment to duty—to God and man.

Martha Swanzey is a member of the Murray Hill Institute Board.