Into Great Silence

Into Great Silence is a visually stunning and thought-provoking documentary film released in 2005. It was directed by German filmmaker Philip Gröning who had to wait for over 16 years to obtain permission from the Carthusian monks to film the documentary. Breaking many conventions of the genre, the film has an extraordinary calmness and serenity to it, to mirror the quietness and tranquility of the monastic life it portrays.

The film is set inside the Grande Chartreuse, the head monastery of the Carthusian order, located in the isolated heights of the French Alps. The Carthusians have earned a reputation for being among the most severe Catholic orders; they dedicate their lives to silence, solitude, prayer, and labor. Famous for its Chartreuse liqueur, the order's adherents, known as the monks of the Great St. Bernard, also breed St. Bernard dogs.

Gröning doesn't employ interviews or voiceover narrations—standard tools for documentaries. Instead, the film takes a meditative approach, translating the essence of the monks' tranquil lives onto the screen through a careful arrangement of artfully composed images and sounds. The documentary is nearly three hours long and contains no music outside the chants in the monastery, no interviews, no commentaries, and minimal dialogue, most of which is soothing Latin prayer.

Over 162 minutes, the viewer is invited into a world of quiet introspection as Gröning captures the minutia of the monks' daily lives—praying, studying, gardening, and feeding cats—in sequences that are profound in their simplicity and repetition, yet intensely laden with meaning. The viewer is coaxed into sharing the monks' patience, witnessing the changing seasons, harsh winters, the arrival of spring, and for brief moments, experiencing their journey towards inner tranquility.

The pace of Into Great Silence is deliberate and unhurried, reflecting the order's disciplined yet peaceful rhythms. The result is a film that's capable of transporting the viewer into a realm rarely ever depicted on screen—a metaphysical place, where time itself seems to slow down and life attains a kind of stillness and depth unseen in the modern world.

There are sequences in the documentary that sear into the memory—the silent meals, the slow-motion snowfall, the quiet toil in the orchards, the reading and writing by much-practiced hands. There are the meetings of the monks, which offer brief windows into the camaraderie and humanity shared within their ranks. These moments, captured with obvious respect and warmth, punctuate the disciplined solitude that largely characterizes their existence.

The infrequent brief dialogues in the film artfully capture the essence of the Carthusian ethos—the wisdom shared by an elderly blind monk as he speaks of faith, peace, and the necessity of love; the joy of the monks as they join a snowball fight; or the sequences involving the novice’s entrance into the order, each scene echoing the power of silence and the solace it offers.

The silent, contemplative approach of "Into Great Silence" is an antidote to the constant noise and hustle of the modern world and encourages the viewer to inhabit a state of mindfulness, helping them introspect—much like the monks themselves. It's a testament to Gröning's creative vision and sensitivity that the film doesn't feel voyeuristic; instead, it seems to offer a harmonious portrayal of an ancient tradition that continues to survive in our time.

Into Great Silence is not merely a documentary, it's a poetic meditation on the human pursuit of meaning and transcendence portrayed through a lifestyle that values silence, simplicity, and solitude. It's a deeply resonant cinematic experience, stripping away the distractions of the modern world to reveal the profound silence at the heart of life's mystery., effectively offering a true ‘retreat’ from the sensory overload of contemporary existence.

In summary, Into Great Silence is a sublime observation of the Carthusian monastic life which unravels not as a traditional documentary but as a visual poetry of quietude and reflection. It is a worthy exploration of our capacity for solitude and the silence that sits at the heart of our being, embodying a unique cinematic sojourn that invites the audience to meditate alongside the monks and perhaps, touch the very soul of silence.