Of Gods and Men (2010) Des hommes et des dieux (original title)

Popularity:

Down 1% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.

Director:

Xavier Beauvois

Writers:

Xavier Beauvois (adaptation) (dialogue)
Etienne Comar (scenario)

Release Date:

16 December 2010 (Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Under threat by fundamentalist terrorists, a group of Trappist monks stationed with an impoverished Algerian community must decide whether to leave or stay.

Plot Keywords:

Monastery | Monk | Terrorist | Community | Trappist Monk

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 18 wins & 27 nominations

Cast

Lambert Wilson	...	Christian
Michael Lonsdale	...	Luc
Olivier Rabourdin	...	Christophe
Philippe Laudenbach	...	Célestin
Jacques Herlin	...	Amédée
Loïc Pichon	...	Jean-Pierre
Xavier Maly	...	Michel
Jean-Marie Frin	...	Paul
Abdelhafid Metalsi	...	Nouredine
Sabrina Ouazani	...	Rabbia
Abdellah Moundy	...	Omar (as Abdallah Moundy)
Olivier Perrier	...	Bruno
Farid Larbi	...	Ali Fayattia
Adel Bencherif	...	Le terroriste
Benhaïssa Ahouari	...	Sidi Larbi (as Benaïssa Ahaouari)
Idriss Karimi	...	Hadji
Abdellah Chakiri	...	Le colonel
Goran Kostic	...	Le chef de chantier croate
Stanislas Stanic	...	Ouvrier croate 1
Arben Bajraktaraj	...	Ouvrier croate 2
Zhour Laamri	...	La femme de Sidi Larbi
Raouia	...	La villageoise (as Raouya)
Farid Bouslam	...	Ahmed
Fadia Assal	...	La femme de Nouredine
Maria Bouslam	...	Saloua
Soukaïna Bouslam	...	La fille de Saloua
Rabii Ben Johail	...	Terroriste 1
Saïd Naciri	...	Terroriste 2
Hamid Aboutaieb	...	Terroriste 3
El Alaoui El Hassan	...	Le berger

Directed by
Xavier Beauvois

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Xavier Beauvois		adaptation (dialogue)
Etienne Comar		scenario

Produced by
Pascal Caucheteux	....	producer
Etienne Comar	....	producer
Jean-David Lefebvre	....	executive producer
Frantz Richard	....	area executive producer
Grégoire Sorlat	....	producer

Original Music by
Mike Kourtzer		(sound mix)

Cinematography by
Caroline Champetier

Film Editing by
Marie-Julie Maille

Casting by
Brigitte Moidon

Production Design by
Michel Barthélémy

Art Direction by
Yann Megard

Costume Design by
Marielle Robaut

Makeup Department
Pierre Olivier Persin	....	special makeup effects artist

Production Management
Edouard Decker	....	assistant unit manager
Khaled Haffad	....	unit manager
Thibault Mattei	....	unit production manager
Mounir Said	....	unit production manager
Thibault Spiral	....	assistant unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Guillaume Bonnier	....	first assistant director
Akrame El Meziane	....	co-first assistant director
Amine Louadni	....	second assistant director
Constance Stalla	....	third assistant director

Art Department
Johanna Colboc	....	assistant art director
Guillaume Deviercy	....	property master
Hind Ghazali	....	set decorator
Omar Ouachachane	....	art department
Boris Piot	....	set dresser
Francis Poirier	....	hod sculptor
Martinus Van Lunen	....	construction coordinator

Sound Department
Éric Bonnard	....	sound re-recording mixer
Damien Bouvier	....	post sync dialogue
Jean-Jacques Ferran	....	sound recordist
Matthieu Fichet	....	assistant sound editor
Carl Goetgheluck	....	foley re-recordist
Vincent Guillon	....	sound & dialogue editor
Vincent Milner	....	foley artist
Loïc Prian	....	sound editor
Mathieu Weber	....	boom operator

Special Effects by
Jacques-Olivier Molon	....	special effects crew (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Charlotte Quemy	....	restoration supervisor

Stunts
Joseph Beddelem	....	stunt performer
Tarick Hadouch	....	stunt performer
Cedric Proust	....	stunt coordinator
Mustapha Touki	....	stunts
Mohamed Attougui	....	stunt performer (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Sofiane Amly	....	additional video assist
Carole Ardoin	....	assistant camera
Emmanuel Demorgon	....	gaffer
Aziz Lechgar	....	second assistant camera
Stephen Mack	....	first assistant camera
Guillaume Quoilin	....	steadicam operator

Casting Department
Akrame El Meziane	....	casting director: Morocco

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Alice Cambournac	....	costumer

Editorial Department
Myriam Coën	....	digital conformation
Sophia Del-Vecchio	....	digital conformation
Julie Duclaux	....	assistant editor
Philippe Tourret	....	post-production coordinator

Other crew
Frédéric Cauvy	....	weapons
Hicham El Ghorfi	....	location scout
Agathe Grau	....	script supervisor
Christian Dines	....	bonus material editor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Why Not Productions (co-production)
• Armada Films (co-production)
• France 3 Cinéma (co-production)
• France Télévision (participation)
• Canal+ (participation)
• CinéCinéma (participation)
• Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) (participation)
• Cinémage 4 (in association with)
• Cofinova 6 (in association with)
• Soficinéma 6 (in association with)

Distributors

• Artificial Eye (2010) (UK) (theatrical)
• Benelux Film Distributors (2010) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• Benelux Film Distributors (2010) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Energía Entusiasta (2011) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• IMJ Entertainment (2011) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Lucky Red (2010) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Magic Hour (2011) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Mars Distribution (2010) (France) (theatrical)
• Mongrel Media (2011) (Canada) (theatrical)
• NonStop Entertainment (2011) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Seven Films (2010) (Greece) (theatrical)
• Sony Pictures Classics (2010) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• All Media Company (2011) (Russia) (all media)
• Argentina Video Home (2011) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Argentina Video Home (2011) (Argentina) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Artificial Eye (2011) (UK) (DVD)
• Artificial Eye (2011) (UK) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Audio Visual Entertainment (2011) (Greece) (DVD)
• Back-Du-Dugong (2010) (South Korea) (all media)
• Film1 (2011) (Netherlands) (TV) (limited)
• Frenetic Films (2010) (Switzerland) (all media)
• Golem Distribución (2010) (Spain) (all media)
• Imovision (2010) (Brazil) (all media)
• Leopard (2010) (Russia) (all media)
• Lumière Home Entertainment (2011) (Belgium) (DVD)
• Lumière Home Entertainment (2011) (Belgium) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Lumière Home Entertainment (2011) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Lumière Home Entertainment (2011) (Netherlands) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Métropole Films Distribution (2010) (Canada) (all media)
• NFP Distribution (2010) (Germany) (all media)
• NonStop Entertainment (2010) (Finland) (all media)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2011) (USA) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2011) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Teleview International (2010) (Lebanon) (all media) (Middle East)
• Universal Pictures Nordic (2011) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2011) (Germany) (DVD)
• Zon Lusomundo Audiovisuais (2010) (Portugal) (all media)

Other Companies

• Dolby Laboratories  sound mix

Also Known As:

"Des hommes et des dieux" - France (original title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for a momentary scene of startling wartime violence, some disturbing images and brief language

Runtime:

122 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | Arabic

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Australia:MA15+ | Brazil:12 | Germany:12 | Ireland:15A | Japan:PG12 | Netherlands:16 | Portugal:M/12 (Qualidade) | Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:15 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #46413) | USA:R (original rating) (certificate #46413)

Filming Locations:

Morocco

Company:

Why Not Productions

Trivia:

The official French submission for the Foreign Language Film Award at the 83rd Academy Awards.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Luc leans against the painting, his face and left hand touch it noticeably higher in the close-up than during the preceding shot.

Quotes:

Christian:We are martyrs out of love, out of fidelity. If death overtake us, despite ourselves, because up to the end, up to the end we'll try to avoid it. Our mission here is to be brothers to all. Remember that love is eternal hope. Love endures everything.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Maltin on Movies: Horrible Bosses (#1.41)" (2011)

Soundtrack:

Puisqu'il Est Avec Nous

Painterly film exploring the purpose and power of faith

I liked the control of this film's ambiguities. At first I thought it was set in France. Then, perhaps, a Balkan country. Only later does the film reveals itself but not before one has confronted several assumptions about the rightness or wrongness of there being a monastic order at the centre of a largely Muslim community.

During the film the seven monks are obliged to consider their practical role, their higher purpose and their own strengths as men, individually and collectively. We are told next to nothing of their back story and must work from their characters as revealed in the situations in which they find themselves - tending the sick, and facing the political and physical threat of the internecine attrition of local Muslim factions.

The performances operated along an axis that has the sage, worldly but ageing Michael Lonsdale (Luc) at one end and Lambert Wilson at the other, giving a career-watershed performance as Christian, the youthful, scholarly, faith-secure leader of the group. The film's ascetic design affords ample opportunity for beautifully composed shots that recall late 17th century Italian church allegories or the martyrdom-piety of Carl Dreyer's Joan of Arc. This is particularly the case in a memorable, exquisitely filmed Antonioni-like extended- denouement sequence which scrutinises the group as they eat supper after making the key decision of the film.

In addition to the performances of Lonsdale (creating a character on a continued trajectory from the worldly-compassionate servitude shown in Frankenheimer's Ronin) and the excellent Wilson, I admired director Xavier Beauvois' restraint in not laying on the piety too heavy and in pitching the pragmatism of the self-sufficient monks just right. The film doesn't preach. If anything, in its austerity it can seem a little remote for a Western audience. Still, the cold and hardship, like much else in the film, rings true. 7/10