good back-story, and good acting

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

In fact you don't need to be religious to appreciate this good documentary movie about daily life of the monks in the Grande Chartreuse, a monastery near Grenoble in France. Their persons, activities and attitudes are shown and described through simple but meaningful and beautiful images with total realism and not intending to pass any religious or mystic message except those which result indirectly from the images themselves. The scenes of monastic life appear intermingled with wonderful views of landscape around the monastery in a counterpoint which underlines the communion between Nature and the monks' deep belief in God with whom they believe to be in permanent contact, in an atmosphere of full austerity and complete renunciation to corporeal and material goods. The movie's director had to wait for 17 years the grant of permission to make it but it was worth waiting. It's a splendid and true documentary indeed, filmed with great honesty and based almost exclusively upon meaningful images carefully chosen.

I may just be a philistine, but this examination of the lives of European monks ultimately struck me as pointless. The film simply follows the monks through their daily routines, without any back story on the individual monks or narration to give viewers any context. Occasionally, quotes from the Bible will appear on the screen, with the same quotes repeating frequently and offering no real insight into what is going on.To a certain extent, the film assumes either a familiarity with Catholic belief, or an overall sympathy with the contemplative way of life. To someone who does not embrace a mystical outlook, the film will come across as alien, or an exercise in boredom.This is not to say the film is without its good points. The cinematography is superb, capturing the breathtaking beauty of the Alps. However, this is ultimately not worth watching a nearly three hour film.

What's this? A two-hour-and-forty-one-minute long documentary on an order of monks who have taken a vow of silence - a film almost completely devoid of speech and musical accompaniment and fully devoid of narration? How audacious a concept is that?! "Into Great Silence" focuses on some Carthusian monks who reside at the Grande Chartreuse Monastery tucked away in a remote corner of the soaring French Alps. With rare exceptions, all we hear for the duration of the movie are natural sounds (birds chirping, water dripping, leaves rustling, feet shuffling, brooks babbling), the tolling of bells, and the signing of Latin hymns. We watch as the monks go through their well-oiled rituals of meditation, prayer and daily chores. With the visuals having to carry so much of the weight of the film, I'm happy to report that the imagery is often quite stunning, resembling nothing less than beautifully composed landscapes and warmly-lit still-lifes brought to sudden life. And, at times, "Into Great Silence" serves as a welcome balm to our aching ears which seem to be under almost constant assault from the cacophony of the modern world.Yet, just how "great" you'll feel the silence is may depend on whether you view cloistering itself as the ultimate act of piety, devotion and self-denial, or as an act of cowardice and selfishness, giving a person permission to retreat from the harsh realities of life and to relinquish all personal responsibility for making the world a better place in which to live. It may take a special person to be both willing and able to shun so much of the pointless jabbering that consumes our lives on a daily basis, but there's still something to be said for being a part of the one species on the planet that is able to truly engage one another through our speech and words. That seems, somehow, too precious a gift to be traded in so cheaply for a trouble-free life."Into Great Silence" is certainly not for all audiences, and it does go on way too long, no doubt about that. Some viewers will find the movie refreshing and therapeutic, while others will be driven out of their skulls with boredom. To be honest, I had a little of both reactions while watching the film. Congratulate yourself on your enlightenment and superhuman patience if you find yourself thoroughly entranced by the experience, but there's no real reason to feel like a Philistine if you don't.

In 1984, novice filmmaker Philip Gröning asked the Carthusian monks of the Grand Chartreuse if he could film them. They said it was too soon, and thus, 16 years later, Gröning received a call: they were ready. A sublime mix of transcendence and cinéma vérité, the result, Into Great Silence, is a masterful trip inside the monastery, a 162 minute voyage that spellbinds, entrances, and makes you become one with the film itself.Filming by himself on hi-definition video and Super 8 for only a few hours a day, using only available light and sound, Gröning was required to live and work among the monks, both observing them and becoming one with them. He structures the film in an unscathed and natural way, both accurately capturing the monks' daily routines yet also flowing by seasons. Each season has its own pleasures, which range from the playful walks of the monks in spring and summer to the moody yet harmonious mise-en-scene of the winter. Sublime to its very hushed core, Into Great Silence does take some getting used to, specifically because the monks hardly utter a word; the beginning of the film is a four minute opening shot of a monk praying in his solitary room. It is after this, however, that the film resembles true life itself: rarely have documentaries portrayed such an unhurried sense of time, yet all of the film passes faster than you wish it to, each minute counting to the very last.Gröning's masterful shots of the Grand Chartreuse are let alone one reason that elates the film, yet more than a placed and planned camera, the shots almost resemble spying. It is undeniably true, as weird as it may sound, that the monks have gotten used to the camera. Months go on, and they blatantly ignore it, which only goes for the better. In what follows, Gröning takes us through more than just the random praying of the monks, but also of them playing (there's a scene of the monks going sledding), cooking, eating and sewing, all daily activities of the monks (excluding the playing aspect.) One need not be religious, or even agree with the existence of god and the fact of locking oneself in a monastery, to enjoy a film of this caliber. Nevertheless, Gröning has created a film of its kind: the type that will keep you thinking and enjoying its quiet pleasures—only through simple images—for a long time, yet also one that could gratify film lovers without a limit to its quiet sense of aptness.