Weather: Mostly sunny, a little humid. Like it a lot
Today we saw the premier of Des Hommes Et Des Dieux (Of God and Men) by Xavier Beauvois, an extraordinary film based on a true story of 8 French monks who lived in a monastery in Maghreb in the 1990s in the middle of war and who were taken hostage and eventually killed by insurgents.
The story begins in the village showing how the predominantly Muslim population welcome and in fact come to rely on the Christian monks in their midst. Brother Luc is a medical doctor and runs a much-attended clinic at the monastery. The other brothers all variously assist the villagers, helping in the fields, writing letters for people who cannot do it for themselves and so on. The harmonious co-existence is reinforced when the monks are invited to share in feast celebrating the khatna (circumcision) of one of the village boys.
Soon however this idyllic existence is threatened by political events. On Christmas Eve, the monastery is invaded by insurgents seeking medical attention for their comrades. When the abbott, Brother Christian refuses to help the insurgents threaten the monks, until Christian quotes the Qu’ran at them.
The monks are aware that their very existence is now uncertain, and we the audience begin to share their foreboding – the almost certain knowledge that there is only one conclusion to this situation. None of the monks seeks martyrdom, but the survival impulse leads several of the men to question their calling. The individual and collective struggles with faith and fear that each man endures as they try to decide whether to leave or stay are presented without judgement or condemnation. The film is slow and deliberately so as the filmmakers present the lives of these courageous men. The passion of the Christ manifests itself in each brother’s struggle to overcome their fears and remain true to their religious calling and to their religious community. Occasionally we felt that the religious imagery and metaphors were laboured, yet despite this, the filmmakers allowed the story to be told in its own pace and rhythm. In his final words to the film’s audience, the lead character Christian presents an interesting perspective when he acknowledges that far from being naïvely detached from worldly matters, he is aware that the very simplicity of his and his brothers’ faith is in a way complicit in the violence that rapidly intrudes and destroys them. This is a rare and beautiful film that left me emotionally wrenched and very thoughtful. I wish there more films like this.
We then went to the Kodak pavilion for a stiff coffee to recover, prior to the premiere screening of a film we worked on last year, A Brunette Kiss. Although we have VIP passes to the Kodak pavilion, and are happy to enjoy the free coffee, we are very much aware that to Kodak we represent the devil – filmmakers who exclusively use digital media rather than celluloid film. So we drinks the free coffee and says nothing incriminating!!!
We then met up with members of a film-making collective that we belong to – the Lacuna Network – at the Petit Majestik bar in a little street behind the Grand Hotel. We shared our day’s experiences over a beer, then it was time for us to try to find the Cannes Independent Film Festival (CIFF), where A Brunette Kiss (ABK) was to be screened. Roopesh Parekh who was the line producer on a ABK joined us at the bar and we set out together to find CIFF.
No one could tell us where the CIFF actually was, but finally we were able to get an address and caught a cab. About 10 minutes ride out of Cannes back towards Cannes La Bocca, the cab turned right up an unprepossessing street and promptly disgorged us in front of what appeared to be an ordinary villa. Apparently we had reached our destination. Unsure if we were the victims of a practical joke, our fears were allayed when we saw the sign for the CIFF on the fence. Yes, we had found the other Cannes Film Festival.
We found it! Clare and Roopesh at the grand entrance…
The Cannes Independent Film Festival
What a surreal experience it turned out to be!
It was friendly and low key and we can’t help admire the efforts of the guys organising the screenings, but it was certainly not what we had expected from the website. Essentially the screenings consisted of a projection onto the living room wall. We watched several shorts, then A Brunette Kiss.
After the screening we caught a cab back to the Palais and had some dinner before heading back to the inflatable wonderland in the garden of the Grand Hotel to chill out.
Merci in the sand
