Of Gods and Men

Xavier Beauvois, France 2010. 122mins. Certificate 15

Based on a true story, this award-winning film is a quiet and compelling meditation on faith, politics and the legacy of colonialism that raises many issues relevant today

Where: Golden Lion, 116 Sydenham Road
When: 7.30pm Thursday 27 November 2014
Tickets: £5 on the door; FREE to members!

When Islamic fundamentalist terrorists arrive in a small town in Northern Algeria, a group of French trappist monks stationed there face the destruction of the world as they know it. As the situation worsens they are forced to make a decision: stay and risk death, or leave and desert the community with which they have lived in harmony for decades.

Winner of the Grand Prix at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, Xavier Beauvois’ surprise hit features one of the most affecting scenes in recent cinema. It is packed full of powerful performances from a cast lead by Lambert Wilson and Michael Lonsdale, who was given the César Award for his role as world-wise monk Luc.

★★★★★ ‘[A]stunningly passionate and deeply moving film’ Peter Bradshaw, THE GUARDIAN

★★★★★ ‘Beautiful, somber and rigorously intelligent’ A. O. Scott, NEW YORK TIMES

★★★★★ ‘It is not often we are swept up, even exalted, by earnest simplicity.’ Nigel Andrew, FINANCIAL TIMES

★★★★ ‘The way it dramatises anxieties, expressed and unexpressed, is enthralling and quietly provocative’ Dave Calhoun, TIME OUT

★★★★ ‘[C]inematically Of Gods and Men is near faultless.’ Adam Woodward, LITTLE WHITE LIES