Of Gods and Men/Des Hommes et des Dieux (2010) - Creeds at odds in powerful and deeply moving true-story drama

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Two monks embrace under an overwhelming, bright sky on this effective poster for Xavier Beauvois' Of Gods and Men

The French Catholic monks in a monastery in Algeria are threatened by Islamic fundamentalists, when the civil war that broke out in 1991 comes to their area in 1996, but what does one do in such a situation?

 

Of Gods and Men is written by co-writer/co-producer Etienne Comar (Haute Cuisine (2012)) and French master filmmaker, co-writer/director Xavier Beauvois (Nord (1991)), whose 6th feature it is. It is based on a real life chapter of the Algerian Civil War, which ended in 2002. The original French title translates to 'of men and of gods' and refers to a line in the Bible's Book of Psalms.

It is an eminent and sober portrayal of a true tragedy from our recent past. The film bares with clarity and anguish the way that Islam demands blood sacrifice again and again.

The film is acted with sensitive empathy and humanism from a set of excellent French actors, whose characters do not stand unified or without doubts as to their worrying predicament, giving the strong film a wealth of nuances. Of Gods and Men is, in short, masterly.

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 4 mil. €, approximately 3.89 mil. $

Box office: 43.8 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 11.25 times its cost)

[Of Gods and Men premiered 18 May (Cannes Film Festival, main competition) and runs 122 minutes. Beauvois stayed 6 days at the Tamié abbey in Savoie as research, consulted a theologian and sent the screenplay to the families of the monks, getting positive response from most. The actors trained chanting for a month and were also sent for a week to the Tamié for preparation. 10 companies and support bodies collaborated in the financing and production of the film. Shooting took place from December 2009 - February 2010 in Morocco. The film opened #26 to a 308k $ first weekend in 33 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #22 and in 120 theaters (different weeks), grossing 3.9 mil. $ (8.9 % of the total gross). The film was a massive hit in France, where it was #1 for 4 consecutive weeks and grossed 27.2 mil. $ (62.1 %). North America was the film's 2nd biggest market and Germany the 3rd biggest with 2.1 mil. $ (4.8 %). The film was nominated for a BAFTA, won 3 prizes at Cannes, including the Grand Prix, 3/11 César awards, was nominated for a David di Donatello award and 2 European Film awards and won a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to 2 notches under this one. Beauvois returned with The Price of Fame/La Rançon de la Gloire (2014). Lambert Wilson (The Belly of An Architect (1987)) returned in a music video prior to his theatrical return in À l'Aveugle (2012); Michael Lonsdale (The Suspects/Les Suspects (1974)) in Hitler à Hollywood (2010). Of Gods and Men is certified fresh at 92 % with a 8.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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