Plot
Under threat by fundamentalist terrorists, a group of Trappist monks stationed with an impoverished Algerian community must decide whether to leave or stay.
Release Year: 2010
Rating: 7.2/10 (6,346 voted)
Critic's Score: 86/100
Director:
Xavier Beauvois
Stars: Lambert Wilson, Michael Lonsdale, Olivier Rabourdin
Storyline Under threat by fundamentalist terrorists, a group of Trappist monks stationed with an impoverished Algerian community must decide whether to leave or stay.
Writers: Xavier Beauvois, Etienne Comar
Cast: Lambert Wilson
-
Christian
Michael Lonsdale
-
Luc
Olivier Rabourdin
-
Christophe
Philippe Laudenbach
-
Célestin
Jacques Herlin
-
Amédée
Loïc Pichon
-
Jean-Pierre
Xavier Maly
-
Michel
Jean-Marie Frin
-
Paul
Abdelhafid Metalsi
-
Nouredine
Sabrina Ouazani
-
Rabbia
Abdellah Moundy
-
Omar
(as Abdallah Moundy)
Olivier Perrier
-
Bruno
Farid Larbi
-
Ali Fayattia
Adel Bencherif
-
Le terroriste
Benhaïssa Ahouari
-
Sidi Larbi
(as Benaïssa Ahaouari)
Opening Weekend: £59,379
(UK)
(5 December 2010)
(16 Screens)
Gross: $3,954,651
(USA)
(26 June 2011)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
The official French submission for the Foreign Language Film Award at the 83rd Academy Awards.
Quotes: Christian:
[Voice-over]
Should it ever befall me, and it could happen today, to be a victim of the terrorism swallowing up all foreigners here, I would like my community, my church, my family, to remember that my life was given to God and to his country. That the Unique Master of all life was no stranger to this brutal departure...
User Review
French monks in a catholic monastery Algeria have to decide whether to stay or go back to France.
Rating: 9/10
This film appealed to me in several ways. I liked the direct, intimate
approach in the way it was filmed. It was very refreshing to see hymns
used as a big part of the soundtrack, very different as to what you
usually hear :)
In the cinema where i was watching the film, the average age must have
been a lot higher than usual, and a few seats away, someone was even
quietly singing along with some of the hymns, very bizarre feeling in a
cinema!!
I liked the fact that they treated the subject of faith and the
possibility of coexistence of Christianity and Islam, as well as the
differences, in a very simple, every-day-life-way.
What was new to me was the visualization of fraternity. This aspect was
a big thing throughout the whole movie. It is one of the things i least
understood about priests and monks until now. It was amazing to see
this feeling i have never personally experienced come alive on the
screen and sort of being able to feel it myself.
I also liked that they used 'real' people and not pretty Hollywood
types, but i suppose that is normal in a production like this.
I liked that a lot was left unspoken, unexplained and open for various
interpretations.
The scenes i liked best was the one where: *the abbot was at a lake to
find inspiration for his tough decision. *the 'last supper' with the
close-ups of the monks' faces and the ballet music *the terrorist and
the abbot talk about the birth of Jesus *the ending (usually i don't
like abrupt and vague endings like these, but in this film it was
bearable and befitting, because in real life it is also still unknown
what exactly has happened).
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