It's a smart movie. And in saying that, a lot has already been said. At a time when stupidity reigns unchallenged, making an intelligent film about faith allows you to get your head above water and inflate your lungs; to satiate. Men and Gods exemplifies the life of the monks. That the monks in the film live in Algeria comes second in my opinion. It comes in the background to dodge the eternal debate of the "Clash of Civilizations". This debate that wealthy people treat with contempt and that less well-off people try to flee on a daily basis.

Exemplifying the life of the monks… What a challenge. The cinema screen turns out to be too narrow to show the life of the monks. Lambert Wilson expressed in an interview1 the fundamental difference that exists between attending an office in a monastery and living with the monks. It perfectly described the attitude of the spectator who will spend an hour or two in the monastery church to attend the liturgy. If it is obvious that this faithful participates in the Eucharist, it is just as obvious that the life of the monastery escapes him completely. The intimacy of the monastery. This hidden but visible life; unspeakable. Lambert Wilson was flabbergasted by this unspeakable. He felt a great mystery, he was stunned by its simplicity.

The mystery is simple

A mystery surrounds the life of the monks. And that mystery lies in simplicity. The words appear all at once in a single flat good to explain this life. Because in the modern world, this life is really made up of nothing. It is made up of services rendered, brotherhood, love and adoration. What is that ! What the modern world cannot understand, what it cannot confront, is the heart of the life of monks. The mystery, the adoration thunder with a terrible simplicity. Simplicity is the difference. We join here an “other” world, much more foreign than the world of Avatar or ET, a world entirely turned towards devotion, towards this voice, this voice of God which shudders, which rustles and guides. The life of the monks is there.

What is visible in this attitude? Nothing. There is only the unspeakable. Xavier Beauvois filmed it. No will can film grace2. It is therefore not a matter of will on his part. In fact, there may be will but the success is not his. When grace allows itself to be said, it is because it wanted it. It is grace that enables grace. Xavier Beauvois had the good idea to leave all his preconceptions and the trappings of modern man at the door of his film. He let the camera capture this availability. God asks for nothing other than this availability. This heart intact and ready to be loved. For the love of the heart of Jesus is nothing other than the love of the hearts of men. In the available heart, God appears.

What is grace?

Grace is the action of sincere prayer. And God's answer to this prayer and this expectation. The monks in the film express it perfectly. Through the liturgy of the hours, through the acceptance of simplicity, knowing that in it resides love. When Father Christophe "hears" nothing more and complains to Father Christian de Chergé (Lambert Wilson) no explanation is given. Explain why ? It is easy to understand. Father Christophe gets bogged down in his own desire to get out of the monastery, his chosen world becomes too heavy to carry, to bear, he is there for peace, he wants to live again outside of this violence. He bends one knee. He asks why. He dreads suffering. It borders on apostasy. His doubts don't disappear completely, but he will trust again. He will accept simplicity. Simplicity requires infinite courage. And this more and more as the modern world becomes more technical, and merges with the will to power, which serves technology.

Of Gods and Men is simple and courageous. It addresses all facets of a monk's life even if it shows them in the midst of a storm of violence. But the doubts, the fears, the sorrows, the silences always resonate, in times of peace as in times of war.

The last part of the film shows the monks fulfilling their perfect Christian life. Like the earthly life of Christ. The monks experience a supper in which the traitor is absent and their ascent to Golgotha ​​is made under thick snowflakes. One last effort. A last extra soul. Before entering into eternal glory.

1. Panorama. September 2010.

2. Blessed Cardinal Newman said thus: Grace […] has renewed nature, it neither destroys nor suspends it, but raises it to a higher order.