This film is very well produced and acted. It's quite easy in fact to forget that these are actors and feel that you've been invited into the confines of the monastery and the experience of these cloistered monks. This is accomplished, in part, because of the heavy emphasis on the liturgical life of the monks. A deeply spiritual film, it is uncompromising in it's depiction of the life of a cloistered monk, putting the life of Catholic prayer and it's spiritual dimensions at center screen. The process that the monks go through as they deliberate the threat that they face is deeply informed by Christ and his passion. And while there is no way to really capture the inner reality of a group of eight men devoted entirely to God as they go through this traumatic time, I think the film does a great service to what happened (it is based on actual events). Despite having different motives, different levels of religious fervor and sometimes conflicting desires towards self-preservation, the focus on perseverance in service to the community (despite being cloistered Trappists, who take an oath of silence, and generally do not make an active ministry)is deeply humanizing. This is the kinds of film, I think that Western society needs and helps remind us, even as we slide ever more deeply into pointless self-interest, that our highest values and finest aspirations coalesce when we are centered in service to the one who made us.

Of Gods and Men starts out rather softly and rather reeks out the lonesomeness of the monastery. Then the story builds up well, with repeated moments of heightened tensions and subsequent moments of slow down. That way the story being told can be viewed as one not so scary. In a way, the movie succeeds in telling the story from the perspective of the monks themselves who have surrendered their lives to God long before they meet death. The movie portrays the relationship between the monastery and the surrounding community very nicely, in a way that many fanatics will get disgruntled with. The acting is a nice overall. The aura of stillness is balanced between all the monks, despite the varying levels of fear, tranquility and or anxiety among the characters.

This excellent film..A TRUE EVENT is a must for anyone seeking a moral understanding of the Human race..The Monestary.. situated in a troubled area of Algeria during a conflict between the corrupt government and equally corrupt freedom fighters..seems to raise a beacon of hope for goodness within humanity. THE heroes,a group mostly elderly Monks ,who asked for nothing but to tend to the sick of a nearby village.One Monk exhausting himself treating 150 patients a day ..and the medicines they had were always available to all. This included a wounded freedom fighter ..a Muslim extremist... At night there chants and prayers would give them strength to carry out there good works.Most of them had toiled for decades..They are then advised to leave by the Government...However they refuse to desert their flock............. I shall leave it there a great movie for people with a social conscience..enjoy..

This film should deserve better. But it did not. Problem lies in the importance of significant events are failed to be captured properly.For example, there is too much time allocation on menial tasks, which is okay, but when scenes significant to the flow of plot surfaces, I just do not understand why the director did so little and allow certain cliché, unrealistic actions to take place. This is especially true to the terrorists who I believed were not portrayed in the correct way. Just go away without stealing the medications? This is so not realistic.The priests themselves, while collectively they have been given enough character study, by showing that even priests are like human beings who can be conflicted with each other and conflicted with their faith under fear and life-threatening circumstances... are still below my expectations.For example, some of them had expressed enough cowardice at the beginning that I expect some sort of betrayal to happen but it did not. This is fine. I questioned the motives of why some of them ended up becoming as priests, and there was not enough reason to justify why those who desperately wanted to leave changed their minds later. Not fine. The movie failed to addressed these issues in full. Maybe the pace is too slow for me, but I think the movie could have done a little more given the amount of time it was allocated.