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Into Great Silence
Die große Stille
2005 · Film · documentary · 162 min
Directed by Philip Gröning
An intimate portrayal of the everyday lives of Carthusian monks of the Grande Chartreuse, high in the French Alps (Chartreuse Mountains). The idea for the film was proposed to the monks in 1984, but the Carthusians said they wanted time to think about it. The Carthusians finally contacted Gröning 16 years later to say they were now willing to permit Gröning to shoot the movie, if he was still interested.
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13 comments on Hacker News
The Carthusian monks of the Grande Chartreuse - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grande_Chartreuse and a nice documentary on their lives, Into Great Silence - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_Great_Silence
The full documentary on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8A8aT3eb2s
Into Great Silence is an excellent and beautiful documentary on the everyday lives of Carthusian monks of the Grande Chartreuse, a monastery high in the French Alps - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_Great_Silence
Video on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODVLyqv5bE8
Chartreuse is kind of weird in that it's a kind of joint partnership between an isolationist monastery [1] and a liquor producer/distributor.
I lived near Voiron and did the obligatory tour of the production facility (I already liked the liquor thanks to a friend (hey Iv!), and the place smelled delicious!) They do a good job maintaining the mystique of the Secret Recipe Known Only By A Handful™, which I suppose the monks tolerate and maintain to ensure the steady revenue stream.
The Carthusian monks are an isolationist order, with intentionally limited contact with the outside, which dovetails well with Chartreuse mystique. There was a 2005 documentary, Into Great Silence [2], about life inside the monastery, whose filming was granted 18 years after it was first requested!
I'm sure Quentin Tarantino already has a good supply of the liquor ;)
[1] https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grande_Chartreuse
[2] [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_Great_Silence
A Benedictine once put it more or less this way to me: community life causes the monks to round off each other's sharp edges over time. A solitary life is generally not good for people.
Check out "Into Great Silence" for a film about life in the Grand Chartreuse, the motherhouse of the Carthusian order. I recall reading some years ago that it is one of the few (only?) orders in the Catholic Church that has never needed reform. Carthusians only talk to each other once a week I believe -- interesting monastic order.
There is also a relevant classic work on the Jesus Prayer so used by the East: The Way of a Pilgrim. It's about a man who is determined to find out how to pray without ceasing. He becomes a solitary mystic is how I would describe it.
Those interested in this subject might enjoy watching "Into Great Silence", a documentary on day-to-day life in a French monastery.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=094I4UVjyFg
Most monasteries accept, and have always accepted, visitors for this very reason.
On guy even made a movie, "Into Great Silence"
From the comments here, it seems people have not studied any philosophy and are treating these folks as selfish and thieving. Not so; as a living organism you need the minimum to feed, clothe and house yourself. This can be done in any manner (in ancient history Sages/Monks used to "beg" for food which was an accepted norm) and it simply is that some ways are looked down upon in today's society. Nothing more. For some more accounts on solitary living and solitude see;
1) Read up on Dick Proenneke - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Proenneke He lived alone for 30 years (from age 50 to 80) in the Alaskan Wilderness; built his cabin by hand and filmed his activities. Those documentaries and journals are a must watch/read.
2) Into Great Silence - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_Great_Silence A beautiful documentary on Carthusian monks in the French Alps.
There is a great documentary [1] about the Grande Chartreuse, available on DVD [2].
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_Great_Silence
2: https://www.amazon.com/Into-Great-Silence-Two-Disc-Set/dp/B000OYNVOY
Into Great Silence, a very intimate portrayal of life in a monastery in southern France.
" The idea for the film was proposed to the monks in 1984, but the Carthusians said they wanted time to think about it.
They responded to Gröning 16 years later to say they were willing to permit him to shoot the movie if he was still interested. "
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/into_great_silence/
The Carthusian monks are probably the closest to hermits in the Catholic Church. They spend almost all of their time alone in their cells. Although they don't take a formal vow of silence, unnecessary talking is discouraged. The one exception is that they take a communal walk on Mondays where they're allowed to talk about whatever they want.
(As an aside, for anyone interested in their lives, there's a great documentary called Into Great Silence. It's long and has no narration, but there's a great scene at the very end where it shows the monks on one of their Monday walks going sledding in the Alps.)
"Each day consisted of the same routines: He chanted the Divine Offices in the monastery’s church with his brothers, prayed in solitude at various points in the day, and worked on the monastery’s grounds scrubbing floors, chopping wood, and engaging in other tasks. He lived in an austere cell; ate plain meals..."
Recently a documentary was made about the daily life in another monastery. It's called "Into Great Silence",[1] and I recommend it for a glimpse in to this sort of life.
I've long been interested in trying to live such a simple existence, but I'm afraid I don't know of any such places that aren't religious in some way, which is a real pity.
[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_Great_Silence
Silence, and specifically unnecessary "chatter" is also a major tenet of the Benedictine rule. Some monasteries follow it more strictly than others. (I believe the Trappist and Carthusians in particular are "reforms" of Benedictine practice.)
The documentary was "Into Great Silence" by Philip Groning. For those of us who live "in the world" it can be a challenge to watch because it moves at a really glacial scale, but ultimately, I think, it's very rewarding to see that life doesn't have to be led with so much hustle and bustle.
Monks tend to live by a completely different sense of time than the rest of us. It's been said that they don't think in terms of years, but centuries. I've managed the site for a Benedictine monastery for almost 20 years, and I've long since learned that even the smallest things are very, very carefully considered. For example, it took them nearly two years from the time I proposed it to okay an email list for their publications. This is something that would have been a 24 hour decision for a "business." However, dealing with them and getting to know several of the monks pretty well (in person and via email), they've taught me that sometimes slowing down is definitely a good thing.
" ... solitude is the school of genius"?
Also, television and silence are of different realms. To misappropriate GK "Silence--don't know how that works on radio". I no longer even have the radio on while commuting.
[Edit] I recommend the remarkable documentary film "Into Great Silence" by Philip Gröning as a supporting argument.