paint it purple

Laurie and I saw Into Great Silence last night.  Here is my take on the film (it is not a movie!)

Okay, if you are the type of person who goes to the art museum and thinks, “Man, there is a lot of old stuff here!” and that is all, then you might want to skip this film.  If you’re the kind of person who cares nothing about Seurat, van Gogh or expressionism, then you might avoid this film.  If you are the kind of person who needs to exclaim “that’s funny” every hour or so — and say this for any reason, then this is not your cup of cold soup.  Forget the four star reviews, forget the incredible cinematography, the brilliant use of the camera and film… of green trees that look like everything van Gogh tried to capture - but failed, of blinding rain drops that artists will attempt to package and shrink-wrap, of snow-fogged impenetrable mountains… of cows that look human and keep silence. 

This film is so well-done that I imagined smelling old men’s bodies, smelling old wet institutional hallways and institutional soup, wax, wet snow and that smell of old basements.  I began to wonder what that wool felt like.  I began to think… wait!  This is exactly what the film is attempting to challenge — you will find yourself THINKING — thinking “what are they praying, what do they believe, what about sex, what happens when they get sick?”  We have only one mode:  information, that is, cognition.  Compared to these brothers, we church-goers don’t know anything about seeking god, prayer, discipline, quiet, our soul, commitment, askesis, being alone.  And we dare ask god “Hey, why don’t you do something for me?”

The film shows men who use their physical material body to usher them into heaven’s presence.  We learn the body is not the enemy, but the vessel which carries the libation towards the altar and pours out the soul.  You will find your own body, your own distracted fidgety mind wanting to leave after ten minutes of the film.  Go ahead, leave — the film is not for you.  Those who stay will continue to fidget for almost three hours.  I believe this is the power of the film — it betrays our own cheap living.  Like all good art, this piece irritates. 

This film is a warning for the human soul, the way Al Gore’s documentary on global warming is a warning for a decaying planet.  The difference is, one really matters.  The other just makes souless living more sustainable.

Some advice:  don’t go to the film sleepy, don’t go after drinking a pot of coffee.  On further thought, don’t go.  It is not for you.  “You” won’t like it — your soul on the other hand will  jump up and down and yell, “That’s what I’ve been talking about!”

If you do go, come with your petty life, your cell phone vibrating in your pocket, your stomach growling.  Go to this film completely self-aware, aware of that your life is about to slam into the interior space — and you will not like it.  You will not like the film.  Into Great Silence is a most needed film for cheap, busy, shallow, distracted suburban and urban life.  If you are comfortable with thin souless living, then really - don’t see it.