After its Cannes grand prix, one expected much from Xavier Beauvois’s fact-based film about a small, admirable community of Trappist monks in a remote Algerian monastery, threatened by terrorists in 1996. Even so, this austere, luminous, harrowing drama triumphs in its unexpectedness – above all, in not being anti-Islamic.
The monks run a clinic for the Muslim villagers and are friendly with the locals – they speak Arabic, attend their parties and respect the Koran. These villagers are caught between the corrupt, militaristic state and the angry, uneducated jihadists of Jama’ah Islamiyya. This is a superbly judged ensemble piece – the cast, mostly veterans, have worked with masters (Bunuel, Welles, Truffaut, Rohmer, Resnais). Their experience shows in wonderful, intimate touches. Equally, the film has a vital reticence: as tension slowly builds, we often see the monks in long-shot, from behind, and pan or track steadily to catch their routines. The monks’ hard-won human faith makes the intense climax feel chosen, inevitable and transcendent.
