Into Great Silence - the DVD

I finally got a chance to see Into Great Silence (Die Große Stille) on DVD this week. It is definitely worth viewing.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the movie, it is a documentary about the Grande Chartreuse, the "mother and font" of the Carthusian Order. The order was started by St. Bruno of Cologne in 1084. The order is contemplative. That means that the monks or nuns in each monastery spend most of the day in silent prayer, meditation & study. The lifestyle could be described as a combination of eremitical (hermit) and cenobitic (community) life.

In 1984 German film director Philip Gröning contacted the Grande Chartreuse about doing a documentary. He was told that it was "too early" for him to be allowed to do so. Maybe in 10 or 13 years, they told him. In 2000 they contacted him & told him the time was right. For 6 months he was allowed to do what no outsider had ever done before, enter into the full life of the monastery. He was given certain minimal conditions which he readily agreed to as they lined up with his original plan. He had to do his own filming, with only whatever light was available (no artificial lights), he could add no additional music, & no commentaries. During that time he lived as they did, filming their work, their prayer & their play. The 162 minute film was released in 2005 & the 2 disc Special Edition DVD was released in 2007.

I will comment on the film & then the extras on the 2nd disc. I want to start by applauding Philip Gröning for taking on what had to definitely be a difficult task. This is something he admits to. At 1 point he was tempted to only focus on the part of the Divine Office (Liturgy of the Hours) known as Night Prayer. It took him several years to sort through the film & decide which scenes to use.

Over all, I think he made a good selection of scenes to show both the variety & the sameness that life in the monastery is like from day to day & season to season. Gröning didn't try to show things in any definite chronological order either. At 1 point it is Winter, another Spring, it may be morning, then afternoon etc. Doing this helps to capture the timelessness that exists within the monastery. On the other hand there is also a definite flow of time every day. This is because of the liturgical prayer cycle built into their daily schedule.

Fortunately, I know enough about their daily horarium that I was able to figure out what was going on. But I couldn't help wondering how many people may have been lost at times. Commentary was banned, but couldn't quotes from the rule have been used?

Some scenes showed the monks at work. We saw meal prep, gardenning, tailoring, etc. But we also had scenes of their time in prayer, individual & communal. We also saw scenes from the weekly communal meal & communal walk. During the communal meal 1 monk reads from the Statutes. The communal walk is the 1 time when the monks must talk with each other. While prayer is at the heart of all they do, building community is an important aide in their doing so.

1 of the most moving scenes was the 1 where we see a young monk caring for an elderly monk by rubbing some kind of salve on his arms & back. This scene was an excellent depiction of what it means to be a Christian servant to one in need. & you could see that the younger monk was truly doing his work motivated by Christian charity.

While I think that over all Gröning clearly caught what they monastery was about, he did miss what is the real heart of the Carthusian life & spirituality. In his written comments on Night Office Gröning said: "The Night Office felt to me like the core of Carthusian life & spirituality." He also called it the "heartbeat of the order". While Night Prayer is a part of the heartbeat, it is just that, a part. Albeit a very important & beloved part. The Carthusian website makes it clear what is the true center: "The celebration of the most holy Eucharistic sacrifice is the center and summit of communal life." All the other liturgical hours, celebrated communally or prayed individually flow from & back to the Eucharist.

He didn't total miss it though. He did include a scene from a Eucharistic Procession (Corpus Christi?) & a small part of a Sunday Carthusian Rite Mass. But nothing that caught what is unique in the rite. It could have been any Roman (Latin) Rite Mass. God, & in particular, Jesus, esp in His Eucharistic presence, is why they do what they do. & while he did an excellent job of what, there is room for him to have better capture the "Why?". Without more of this "Why?" (Jesus) this film leaves us with the impression that this is no different than any other form of meditation out there. True Christian Spirituality does offer something better, with eternal benefits that TM etc can never offer.

The movie runs for 162 minutes. With 6 months of film, Gröning clearly had much that didn't make the final cut. As I said, it clearly had to be a difficult task deciding what to use. Now we get to the advantages of DVDs. Gröning wrote: "Cinema & DVD are non-identical twins. There is much the cinema can do that a DVD may not. But equally there are things that a DVD can do which a film can never attain. For instance, DVD can open up the paths that must be abandoned in cinema in order to create a monolithic work." In that statement he captures "special features" at their best. Esp when they do so with a 2nd (or even 3rd) disc.

In this case, Disc 2 has a great selection of bonus features. It includes an hour of additional scenes. 1 scene is the making of the famous Chartreuse liqueur that they sell to make money to operate their monastery. (Some of the proceeds also goes to help the poorer charterhouses.)

Another clip shows more of the interview Gröning did with an elderly blind monk. This is something else I wish he had included more of in the film. But, like so much else, there had to be a point where the reality of time limits had to be faced. There is the potential for a 4-5 hr film that would have covered things in better depth, but lost everyone half way through. As I said earlier about "Special Features" at their best, here is a prime example.

Another bonus is a 53 minute excerpt from Night Office. He wisely focuses on showing copies of the texts as we hear the chant & readings. Given how dark the chapel would be there wouldn't have been much to see. & this enables people to follow along. Obviously, he cut out the periods of silence. But it does do a good job of showing what Night Office is about.

I suspect that Philip Gröning isn't Catholic, or at the least isn't familiar with how the Liturgy of the Hours is set up, Lauds & Matins are 2 of the hours that make up the Night Office. Yet, in talking about Night Office, he seperates the Psalms from them. The Psalms are an intregal part of Lauds & Matins, not seperate.

The 2nd disc also includes plenty of information about the Carthusians. It includes the history, rules, info about the daily schedule, other monasteries, etc. For someone unfamiliar with monastic spirituality, esp Carthusian, looking at this info 1st helps mitigate some of the above mention concern about viewers not understanding what is going on & why.

Again I repeat "Special Features" at their best. Disc 2 is a prime example of this. I can't help but wonder how much more he had from the 6 months of filing that could fill a 3rd disc without being mere repetition. I suspect that some of this film also contains, as much as possible, more of the "Why?" I said early was often missing.

The above mentioed flaws aside, this film is well worth seeing. In this day & age with noise all arround us shutting out the "Voice of God", this movie shows us there is an antidote. Most of us are not called to this form , or any other form, of monastic life. But all of us can find the time to shut out the noise of the day, pray (including the use of The Liturgy of the Hours & the Rosary) & listen to God's "Small, Still Voice".

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1 small final comment. & this is just my own personal preference. He does show a short scene of 1 of the monks feeding some of the cats. Unfortunately, none of them are the famous Chartreux breed. Some do look like they have some of the breed in their mixed heritage. I would have liked to have seen something about them.