Of Gods and Men

Of Gods and Men
Lambert Wilson, Michael Lonsdale, Olivier Rabourdin
Director: Xavier Beauvois

On its release last autumn, Xavier Beauvois' film brought into focus an incident which left another indelible mark on the volatile relationship between Algeria and France. Of Gods and Men is loosely based on a real-life incident from 1996 in which seven French Cistercian monks were found dead after being abducted by Islamist insurgents from their monastery in the Atlas Mountains.

The film reignited a debate about who murdered the monks. While the Armed Islamic Group had long claimed responsibility for the killings, a handful of Western officials - including a French military attache working in Algiers at the time - came forward to say the monks were killed when an Algerian military helicopter attacked the guerilla base where they were being held.

This disputed version of events is alluded to in Beauvois' film. In one scene, the monks - who have just been reprimanded by an Algerian official for refusing to leave - are seen joining arms and singing a hymn inside their church, while a military helicopter hovers menacingly. But that's just about the film's only political statement, if one could even call it that.

Of Gods and Men is neither a political treatise nor a pulse-racing thriller. What Beauvois is concerned about here is psychology: the standoff between man and machine illustrates the monks' steeled will to live and die by what they think is just.

Rather than focus on their demise - which is never shown on screen - the film is set during the months before their deaths. Viewers are shown their daily routines and their solidarity with the local population as they visit community elders.