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

Director:

Xavier Beauvois

Writers:

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

Release Date:

8 September 2010 (France)

Genre:

Drama | History

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 | Community | Terrorist | Algeria

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 12 wins & 23 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

Cinematography by
Caroline Champetier

Film Editing by
Marie-Julie Maille

Casting by
Brigitte Moidon

Production Design by
Michel Barthélémy

Art Direction by
Yann Megard

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

Production Management
Edouard Decker	....	assistant unit manager
Thibault Mattei	....	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 dresser
Boris Piot	....	set dresser
Francis Poirier	....	hod sculptor

Sound Department
Eric 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
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

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	....	digital intermediate coordinator

Other crew
Frédéric Cauvy	....	weapons
Hicham El Ghorfi	....	location scout
Agathe Grau	....	script supervisor

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:

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

Filming Locations:

Morocco

Company:

Why Not Productions

Trivia:

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

Quotes:

Christian:[Voice-over] Should it ever befall me, and it could happen today, to be a victim of the terrorism swallowing up all foreigners here, I would like my community, my church, my family, to remember that my life was given to God and to this country. That the Unique Master of all life was no stranger to this brutal departure...

Movie Connections:

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

Soundtrack:

Voici La Nuit

An inner poetry and reverence for life

As Vivekananda has said, "The intensest love that humanity has ever known has come from religion, and the most diabolical hatred that humanity has known has come from religion." Both of these elements are present in Xavier Beauvois Of Gods and Men, the story of seven Roman Catholic French Trappist monks kidnapped by radical Islamists from their monastery in the village of Tibhirine in Algeria during the 1990s Algerian Civil War. The film depicts the sacrifices people of good will in both religions are willing to make for each other, and that the separation between religions is not an unbridgeable gap.

Winner of the Grand Prix at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, Of Gods and Men stars Lambert Wilson as Christian, Prior of the monks, and 79-year-old Michael Lonsdale as a world weary medic who treats up to 150 Moslem villagers each day. The film derives its title from the Book of Psalms, Psalm 82:6-7 quoted at the beginning of the film: "I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes." Filmed in Morocco, the film shows the daily life of the Trappist monks before the terrorist threat becomes real.

Though a large part of their day consists of contemplation and devotion, living in close contact with the Muslim population allows them to interact with them in a positive way, healing the sick, selling honey in the nearby markets, and caring for the aged. In addition, daily chores such as cooking, gardening, loading wood for the fireplace, and cleaning take up a large part of the day. Soon word gets around about the murder of European workers on a construction site by the terrorists and the monks recoil in horror when they learn about the stabbing of a woman riding on a bus by Islamic fundamentalists simply because she was not wearing a veil.

The Algerian government asks the monks to leave for their own safety but Christian tells them that their calling is to serve the people of the community and he insists on remaining, though he is willing to let the other monks decide. The issue becomes suddenly more immediate when a group of fundamentalists show up at the monastery on Christmas Eve demanding medicine for their wounded colleagues. Though the request is refused, Christian quotes the Koran to their spokesman Ali Fayattia (Farid Larbi) and they end up shaking hands, though the Prior senses rightly that they will be back.

When all agree that they will not abandon the monastery even at the risk of death, the dramatic high point of the film is reached when the monks recreate the Last Supper by sitting around a small table drinking wine and listening to a recording of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake ballet. As the camera pans from face to face, we can observe a beatific smile on some faces and tears on others, demonstrating an inner poetry and reverence for life. The monks are not Christian moralists but spiritualists confronting the extremes of the human condition, characters who point the way to overcoming despair.

The monks, like the Curé de Torcy in Bernanos' Diary of a Country Priest, love poverty "with a deep, reasoned, lucid love as equal loves equal", expressing the eternal struggle of the spirit to know Christ and to come to terms with his anguish. The heroes of the film are not saints. They are flesh and blood human beings, full of ambiguity and fear, but never far from compassion and humility, willing to offer us the possibility of a world transformed by grace.