Des hommes et des dieux (2010)
Directed by Xavier Beauvois

Film Review

In the course of the five films that he has made over the past two decades, actor-turned-director Xavier Beauvois has earned his spurs as one of France's most committed auteur filmmakers, one who is not afraid to tackle challenging subjects with commendable restraint and maturity. So far he has dealt with issues as varied and difficult as police brutality, depression and alcoholism, developing a distinctive brand of social realism that is shot through with a dark poetry and well-developed sense of irony.  His latest film sees a continuation of this fascination with the gloomier side of human experience, yet it is also a departure into a more intimate and introspective style of cinema.  Des hommes et des dieux is just as dramatically intense and character-focused as Beauvois's earlier films but it is somewhat more measured in its style and tone, the work of an altogether more confident and thoughtful filmmaker.

The film is based on a true story that dominated the French newspaper headlines in May 1996 - the abduction of seven French Cistercian monks from their monastery at Tibhirine, Algeria, by a band of Islamic extremists.  To this day, the details surrounding the deaths of the monks is shrouded in mystery.  At the time, the killings were attributed to the monks' kidnappers but a French general later admitted that they may have been accidentally killed by the Algerian army, who then staged an elaborate cover-up.  Sensibly, Beauvois does not allow himself to be sidetracked by this blame game, nor does he show us the grim fate of the monks (after a period of confinement, they had their throats cut and were decapitated, their heads left by the side of a road).  Instead, he concentrates on the events that led up to the tragic outcome, focussing on the monks' spiritual journey as they come to accept the fate that has been allotted them.

Des hommes et des dieux is an intensely spiritual film that has much the same impact as the greater works of Robert Bresson (Journal d'un curé de campagne, Un condamné à mort s'est échappé).  It depicts, with astonishing lucidity, the conflict between faith and fear, showing how we may draw strength from our beliefs and thereby rise above our mortal failings, the most potent of which is, of course, fear of death.  By making the decision to stay at their monastery and not be driven away by the threat of a terrorist outrage, the group of monks are not just reaffirming their belief in the Almighty, they are making a collective statement that the human will is infinitely more powerful than any weapon a terrorist may employ.  They place the needs of the community they serve above their own personal safety, and whilst their martyrdom has an inevitability about it, the final victory is theirs - their faith enables them to triumph over their human frailty.  Far from being a pointless sacrifice, the slaying of the seven Tibhirine monks hastened the end of the civil war in Algeria in the 1990s, by weakening support for the GIA and other Islamist terrorist groups.  This is how terrorism is defeated - not by all-out war, but by heroic acts of passive resistance.

The film is an exhortation of the necessity to avoid giving into fear - a message that cannot be repeated enough in our present troubled times.  Just as topical is its depiction of two religions - Christianity and Islam - living side by side in harmony and working together for mutual advantage. The monks are not locked away in their Ivory Tower, nor are they concerned with converting the native population to their creed.  Instead, they respect and serve their Muslim neighbours, who show them kindness in return.   What Beauvois presents in his film is a tantalising glimpse of the future we all long for, where people of different faiths can coexist peacefully, learning from one another instead of constantly bickering over piffling inconsequentialities.  The determination of the monks to stand up to the fanatical minority that threatens this multi-faith Utopia is something that should inspire us all and harden our resolve not to give into the sad, deluded fanatics who believe that by slaughtering the innocent they will find paradise.

Des hommes et des dieux is not an overtly political film (in contrast to much of Beauvois's previous oeuvre) but it has a strong political resonance, implying that compassion and tolerance, not misdirected bombs and self-righteous posturing, are the means by which terrorism is to be thwarted.   The film's striking chiaroscuro cinematography (reminiscent of Medieval paintings in a some scenes) provides a graphic visual representation of this struggle between the forces of light and darkness which the monks experience in their traumatic period of doubt, and which is subtly but poignantly conveyed by the performances from an ensemble of talented actors head by Lambert Wilson and (a remarkable) Michael Lonsdale.  This inner conflict is magnificently expressed in the film's most memorable and viscerally moving sequence, where the monks share a meal - their last supper - whilst listening to Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.  Through a series of lingering close-ups of the monks' highly expressive faces, we see fear and doubt being slowly vanquished, and in their place a mood of perfect serenity.

Not only is it a beautiful piece of cinema in its own right, Des hommes et des dieux contains a valuable lesson for our us all, and the fact that it was both a major critical and commercial success signifies as much.  Having taken the Jury Grand Prize at Cannes in 2010, it was nominated for eleven Césars, winning in the categories of Best Film, Best Cinematography and Best Supporting Actor (Lonsdale), although its greatest achievement was its success at the box office.  In France alone it attracted an audience of three million, and enjoyed comparable popularity abroad.  As terrorist atrocities become more commonplace (exacerbated by the ineptitude of our political masters) there is much that we can learn from Des hommes et des dieux and the example of the seven monks who refused to submit to the thuggery of hate-filled fanatics.

Film Synopsis

In the 1990s, eight French Cistercian monks lead a peaceful existence in a monastery overlooking the village of Tibhirine in the mountainous hinterland of Algeria.  Over the past decades, the monks have formed a close bond with the Muslim community that surrounds them, offering charity and medical care to those who need it most.  But when the country erupts into bloody civil war it is not long before this haven of tranquillity is seized by terror.  The brutal killing of a party of Croatian construction workers by armed Islamist terrorists prompts some of the monks to consider whether they should leave the region.  But they agree to stay, rejecting the offer of protection from the Algerian army.  Although none of them wishes to be a martyr, the monks decide that they cannot walk away from those who need their support in this moment of crisis...