I saw this film at the Ghent filmfestival 2012. What I have read beforehand promised some insight in a world that has the habit of remaining invisible for us laymen. Monasteries are closed communities by definition, usually living behind uninviting walls, and we can only speculate what they do all day long. The only thing we know is that they work and pray many many hours per day. But we'll never get a grip on what is in their minds, and what their purpose in life is. I once had several uncles and aunts in a monastery, and they never succeeded in clarifying what they did and what was on their mind all day long. It was and still remains a different world for me.
The relative long running time (2.5 hours) of this film is consistent with the way of life in a monastery. My only fear is that it may scare away modern viewers. Still, I'm surprised for myself that it did not seem that long, while something interesting happened all the time. Nevertheless, adaptation to modern times could be worth the effort by editing some scenes away. I admit that it is easier said than done: without hurting the product as a whole, I cannot point to specific scenes as logical candidates for removal.
It is difficult for us laymen to understand how people in a monastery live, what their purpose is in life, and how they pass their days. The initial supper scene after arriving in the monastery and meeting the whole population, does not help very much. Particularly the all-knowing priest who talks in cliché's and has an answer for everything, confirms our worst assumptions. Luckily, this first impression is not all there is to it. We see later on that none of them thinks and talks in black and white. Even said priest demonstrates further-on in the story that he can think and act more thoughtfully when the need arises.
The plot seems simplistic. It is about two young women. One of them (Voichita) says to have found "God in my heart". She lives in the monastery, and has no plans to leave. The other one (Alina) is granted an extended stay in the monastery. They know each other from an orphanage where they grew up together. Alina has a hidden agenda to get Voichita out of there, in order to travel abroad together. Having not attended a church service for many years, she has to catch up a lot while she stays in the monastery. For the short term, she complies with the house rules and even prepares to go to confession. In the company of several sisters, they walk through the "Book of 464 sins", the first 20 of which we see reading aloud while Alina is assumed to take notes. I'm not sure the scene was intended to be amusing, but for me it worked out that way. I could not help wondering whether these first 20 sins not all applied to me. And what about the remaining 444 sins, where they worse or mere variations on the same theme??
The two women do not come closer, both defending their own purpose in life. Even worse, Alina violates several house rules, a few unknowingly but most out of mere stubbornness. Some of the time she acts up violently, and is even sent to hospital when she gets out of control. The hospital finds nothing wrong that they can cure there, and sends her back to the monastery. The priest suspects the devil residing in her, and proposes a rite of exorcism.
I was very positively surprised that the priest and colleague sisters responded to her fierce behavior in a much more thoughtful and loving manner than I had expected from the black/white thinking as displayed initially at the welcoming supper. Of course, you need to be a strong believer, as well as compliant to a high degree, to blend in with daily life in a monastery. But it does obviously not mean that all humanity is wiped out. We see no mindless robots but humans of flesh and blood.
We also observe several times that the monastery is not a closed community in the literal sense of the word. There are several contacts with people in the village, and Voichita and Alina are even allowed to travel to Alina's former foster home to collect her belongings. When she finds out that the wages she earned there previously, were spent on her recent hospitalization, she reacts furiously and insults everyone to such an extent that she outstayed her welcome there. Having no other place to live, her only option is to return to the monastery. She promises to behave, and even prays for many days in a row as a penitence for her sins. Aforementioned rite of exorcism is set in motion. As could be expected, the end result is not as planned (no further details, to prevent spoilers).
All in all, I had no problems with staying awake during the relatively long running time of 2.5 hours. We got the opportunity to visit a more or less closed community, to learn the wrongness of the picture we have formed in our minds about life in a monastery, and to obtain a better and more positive idea about the people that live in such a community. Apart from that, the acting was spot on and very believable. I had every reason to give a maximum score for the audience award when leaving the theater.
The relative long running time (2.5 hours) of this film is consistent with the way of life in a monastery. My only fear is that it may scare away modern viewers. Still, I'm surprised for myself that it did not seem that long, while something interesting happened all the time. Nevertheless, adaptation to modern times could be worth the effort by editing some scenes away. I admit that it is easier said than done: without hurting the product as a whole, I cannot point to specific scenes as logical candidates for removal.
It is difficult for us laymen to understand how people in a monastery live, what their purpose is in life, and how they pass their days. The initial supper scene after arriving in the monastery and meeting the whole population, does not help very much. Particularly the all-knowing priest who talks in cliché's and has an answer for everything, confirms our worst assumptions. Luckily, this first impression is not all there is to it. We see later on that none of them thinks and talks in black and white. Even said priest demonstrates further-on in the story that he can think and act more thoughtfully when the need arises.
The plot seems simplistic. It is about two young women. One of them (Voichita) says to have found "God in my heart". She lives in the monastery, and has no plans to leave. The other one (Alina) is granted an extended stay in the monastery. They know each other from an orphanage where they grew up together. Alina has a hidden agenda to get Voichita out of there, in order to travel abroad together. Having not attended a church service for many years, she has to catch up a lot while she stays in the monastery. For the short term, she complies with the house rules and even prepares to go to confession. In the company of several sisters, they walk through the "Book of 464 sins", the first 20 of which we see reading aloud while Alina is assumed to take notes. I'm not sure the scene was intended to be amusing, but for me it worked out that way. I could not help wondering whether these first 20 sins not all applied to me. And what about the remaining 444 sins, where they worse or mere variations on the same theme??
The two women do not come closer, both defending their own purpose in life. Even worse, Alina violates several house rules, a few unknowingly but most out of mere stubbornness. Some of the time she acts up violently, and is even sent to hospital when she gets out of control. The hospital finds nothing wrong that they can cure there, and sends her back to the monastery. The priest suspects the devil residing in her, and proposes a rite of exorcism.
I was very positively surprised that the priest and colleague sisters responded to her fierce behavior in a much more thoughtful and loving manner than I had expected from the black/white thinking as displayed initially at the welcoming supper. Of course, you need to be a strong believer, as well as compliant to a high degree, to blend in with daily life in a monastery. But it does obviously not mean that all humanity is wiped out. We see no mindless robots but humans of flesh and blood.
We also observe several times that the monastery is not a closed community in the literal sense of the word. There are several contacts with people in the village, and Voichita and Alina are even allowed to travel to Alina's former foster home to collect her belongings. When she finds out that the wages she earned there previously, were spent on her recent hospitalization, she reacts furiously and insults everyone to such an extent that she outstayed her welcome there. Having no other place to live, her only option is to return to the monastery. She promises to behave, and even prays for many days in a row as a penitence for her sins. Aforementioned rite of exorcism is set in motion. As could be expected, the end result is not as planned (no further details, to prevent spoilers).
All in all, I had no problems with staying awake during the relatively long running time of 2.5 hours. We got the opportunity to visit a more or less closed community, to learn the wrongness of the picture we have formed in our minds about life in a monastery, and to obtain a better and more positive idea about the people that live in such a community. Apart from that, the acting was spot on and very believable. I had every reason to give a maximum score for the audience award when leaving the theater.