"Into Great Silence"

Why have I heard of this movie? Hmm. Seems like I saw or heard something about the making of it. Anyway, it sounds interesting. I'll check it out if/when it's released here.

Rod, you don't have to wait until your kids leave home to have at least some silence. We sometimes have family worship (in the manner of Friends) with our children. They don't always get into it, but when they do, the quality of the silence is just beautiful. Something about children sitting in the stillness of the Spirit... When they are moved to speak out of such silence, the things they speak about can be amazingly tender and sweet or sometimes even profound. Tweak it to fit your religious tradition and give it a try! You might have to try more than once with young children, but you may be surprised by how quickly they settle. Some ambiance helps -- low light, maybe some candles and/or incense, etc. But the silence seems to have a power of it's own that even children recognize.

It is a wonderful film, and one that connects me to my beloved Clear Creek. One of the monks depicted in the film is actually a fellow Tulsan who entered Grand Chartreuse a decade or so back.

I saw it at our local art house cinema and was shocked to find that the theatre was nearly full to the brim. (Last time I was there, it was me and two other people in the entire place.) No doubt that many of the people there had no idea they were watching a local boy.

I'm going to put Into Great Silence on my birthday wish list.

Is there anything approaching monasticism in the Protestant tradition?

It would be very interesting to see.

Films full of silence are also "Dolls" by Takeshi Kitano.
And "Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring " by Kim Ki-Duk. But they don't impress so much as in the cinema. At home there are many distracting noises, not everyone has enough concentration to watch it at home, imho.

If you wanted to read a book about the Carthusians, especially considering what they were like before some of the Vatican II reforms which affected even them, I would encourage you to read Nancy Klein Macguire's An Infinity of Little Hours. It follows the journey of five young men through the rigours of a Carthusian novitiate at St. Hugh's Charterhouse, Parkminster, East Sussex, England. Until the Charterhouse of the Transfiguration was built in the USA, St. Hugh's was the only Charterhouse in the English speaking world. (As a side note, St. Hugh's is named for St. Hugh of Lincoln, still the only Carthusian to have ever served as a bishop.)

There have been some reforms since Vatican II. The houses elect their own priors now. These were formerly appointed by the Reverend Father, Prior of La Grande Chartreuse. There have been other reforms, but the Carthusians still continue to live more or less as they lived during the times of St. Bruno. Visitors from other houses still check up on the daughter houses to see that they are still following the rule and living in the spirit of St. Bruno. And the fathers still continue to wear hairshirts under their heavy wool habits. Like the Trappists, they do not eat meat. When they die, they are, like the Trappists, buried in their habits right into the ground and not in a coffin. But even the Trappists have far more contact with each other than the Carthusians do.

The Carthusians have two mottoes. One is "stat crux dum volvitur orbis" (while the world turns, the cross stands firm) and other is "Cartusia nunquam reformata quia nunquam deformata" (The Carthusians have never reformed because they have never deformed.)