I saw a most amazing movie this morning in downtown Washington: Into Great Silence. It is a stunning and incredible film, and if you live in a major metro area, you cannot miss this film. It has received terrific reviews by critics, and I would rank it as one of the best and most powerful movies ever made. It knocked me out emotionally and spiritually.
The power in this magnificent movie is all the more amazing in that there is virtually no dialogue in the entire almost three hours. I initially thought it would be an interesting, off-beat movie, but it was far, far better than I imagined it would be. It simply is one of the most powerful movies spiritually ever made.
Into Great Silence is never boring and trite; you initially get a calm, tranquil feeling and an awe at the ordinary that builds as the movie (one year in the life of the monks) into an insight of just what is God and what is Truth.
The movie takes place in a French Carthusian monastery high in the Alps, and it details the everyday ordinary activities of the monks and two novices in the monastery. The insight one gets is that the everyday spiritual activies are actually extraordinary in the spiritual realm, and that the monks, while outside of society, are truly the heart and soul of Western Civilization.
There is a meditative, almost Oriental aspect to the film that I used to feel while living and studying in Asia while in the mountains or traditional gardens, such as those in Japan. Many Westerners search out this feeling mistakingly embracing Oriental religions, when in fact this simplicity, traquility, and truth is at the heart and soul of our Western, Catholic traditions. You do not have to leave Europe and the West to seek it. Of course, many Westerners are in ignorance of the greatness of Western civilization because liberals have so often replaced our simple, dignified, and beautiful traditions in the liturgy and music with crass, vulgar, and lame modern aspects. Liberalism destroys.
To sum up: Go see this movie! It is a great film.
Not to degrade this post with liberal culture which seeks to destroy the best of Western society, but I could not help comparing Into Great Silence to some of the other films that were also playing at this cineplex in downtown Washington that caters to independent and foreign films . If Into Great Silence represents the best of tradition and the soul of Western society, compare it to the trailer and description of a movie--playing at the same cineplex--that represents the "best" of liberal and gay culture. The difference between traditionalists and preservers of our heritage and shallow liberals, destroyers of the same heritage who replace it with shallow pop nothingness, is stunning.
Can liberals now understand why so many people are against postmodern aspects that destroy our heritage, such as gay "marriage," that replace our wonderful heritage with demeaning pop culture and a false multiculturalism?
The power in this magnificent movie is all the more amazing in that there is virtually no dialogue in the entire almost three hours. I initially thought it would be an interesting, off-beat movie, but it was far, far better than I imagined it would be. It simply is one of the most powerful movies spiritually ever made.
Into Great Silence is never boring and trite; you initially get a calm, tranquil feeling and an awe at the ordinary that builds as the movie (one year in the life of the monks) into an insight of just what is God and what is Truth.
The movie takes place in a French Carthusian monastery high in the Alps, and it details the everyday ordinary activities of the monks and two novices in the monastery. The insight one gets is that the everyday spiritual activies are actually extraordinary in the spiritual realm, and that the monks, while outside of society, are truly the heart and soul of Western Civilization.
There is a meditative, almost Oriental aspect to the film that I used to feel while living and studying in Asia while in the mountains or traditional gardens, such as those in Japan. Many Westerners search out this feeling mistakingly embracing Oriental religions, when in fact this simplicity, traquility, and truth is at the heart and soul of our Western, Catholic traditions. You do not have to leave Europe and the West to seek it. Of course, many Westerners are in ignorance of the greatness of Western civilization because liberals have so often replaced our simple, dignified, and beautiful traditions in the liturgy and music with crass, vulgar, and lame modern aspects. Liberalism destroys.
To sum up: Go see this movie! It is a great film.
Not to degrade this post with liberal culture which seeks to destroy the best of Western society, but I could not help comparing Into Great Silence to some of the other films that were also playing at this cineplex in downtown Washington that caters to independent and foreign films . If Into Great Silence represents the best of tradition and the soul of Western society, compare it to the trailer and description of a movie--playing at the same cineplex--that represents the "best" of liberal and gay culture. The difference between traditionalists and preservers of our heritage and shallow liberals, destroyers of the same heritage who replace it with shallow pop nothingness, is stunning.
Can liberals now understand why so many people are against postmodern aspects that destroy our heritage, such as gay "marriage," that replace our wonderful heritage with demeaning pop culture and a false multiculturalism?
2 comments:
Thank you for this gem of a post. Although not Catholic (my religious inheritance is New York Jewish and Midwest Protestant), I have been very moved by Catholicism's legacy.
For one thing, when detractors criticize my rather bohemian lifestyle, they are prone to say things like, "You live like a monk!" I don't even bother to reply, but I think, "If only..."
Pls don't miss my wordless Easter "sermon" from last year.
Thanks, Jeremayakovka. After I finished my BA in Asian Studies, I had a good grasp of Northeast Asia but wanted to live for a year in Southeast Asia to understand it more. I had a nice apartment in Bangkok but no TV or stereo because I had already sent everything back to the U.S. from Korea. I lived without a TV or stereo for about one year, and it was a real blessing! I still don't like TV very much.
BTW, I liked that series of pictures from Easter last year on your blog. It really shows what Western Civilization is up against.
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