Into Great Silence
Mesmerizing imagery with rich sounds
You might presume that an almost-three-hour, non-narrative documentary about the daily lives of brothers in a remote French monastery would have a limited appeal. Yet Into Great Silence's success with audiences -- it was a surprise hit in Germany and Italy -- suggests it's not hard to appreciate the film's gentle pace, mesmerizing imagery and subtle but rich panoply of sounds, as well as its insights about the human drive to lose the trappings of the world and assume a godlier disposition.
German filmmaker Philip Gröning waited 13 years to get permission to shoot inside the Grande Chartreuse, home to the Carthusians, one of the Roman Catholic Church's strictest orders. Gröning lets scenes of work and worship unfold in silence. Concepts of time slip away, as if the film were taking place in a perpetual present. Though a few signifiers of modernity are visible, this way of life has gone unchanged for centuries.
Through the repetition of sights, sounds, actions and intertitles featuring particular biblical quotes ("Lord, you have seduced me, and I have been seduced," Jeremiah 20:7), Gröning gradually conveys an acute sense of what it means to become more like God. The monks' dedication is particularly impressive to those of us who try to take the shortcut to transcendence. (J. Anderson, EYE WEEKLY)
Into Great Silence
Wed October 10, 2007, 7:00 only, Muenzinger Auditorium
France/Switzerland/Germany, 2005, English/French/Latin, Color, 169 min, Unrated, 35mm, 1.85:1 • official site
Tickets
10 films for $60 with punch card
$9 general admission.
$7 w/UCB student ID,
$7 for senior citizens
$1 discount to anyone with a bike helmet
Free on your birthday! CU Cinema Studies students get in free.
Parking
Pay lot 360 (now only $1/hour!), across from the buffalo statue and next to the
Duane Physics tower, is closest to Muenzinger. Free parking can be found after 5pm at the meters
along Colorado Ave east of Folsom stadium and along University Ave west of Macky.
RTD Bus
Park elsewhere and catch the HOP to campus
International Film Series
(Originally called The University Film Commission)
Established 1941 by James Sandoe.
First Person Cinema
(Originally called The Experimental Cinema Group)
Established 1955 by Carla Selby, Gladney Oakley, Bruce Conner and Stan Brakhage.
C.U. Film Program
(AKA The Rocky Mountain Film Center)
First offered degrees in filmmaking and critical studies in 1989 under the guidance of Virgil
Grillo.
Celebrating Stan
Created by Suranjan Ganguly in 2003.
C.U. Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts
Established 2017 by Chair Ernesto Acevedo-Muñoz.