Screen/Society--Kenan Ethics Film Series--"Of Gods and Men"

OF GODS AND MEN (Des hommes et des dieux) (Xavier Beauvois, 2010, 122 min, France, in French with English subtitles, Color, DVD) -- A sublime tale of faith and doubt based on a real incident, OF GODS AND MEN chronicles the story of eight French Trappist monks living in harmony with their Muslim brothers in an impoverished village in the mountains of Algeria. When faced with threats of violence from fundamentalist terrorists and the military, the monks must decide whether to seek safety or risk their lives and stay with the local villagers who have come to trust them and rely on their aid. (The film is loosely based on the life of the Cistercian monks of Tibhirine in Algeria, from 1993 until their kidnapping in 1996.)