• Of Gods and Men movie
• Introduction
• “Of Gods and men movie” is a somber and rigorous Algerian film that depicts various situations happened in the 1990s during a civil war between the government and a ruthless Islamic insurgency. The movie depicts how French Cistercian Trappist monks died when the government declared martial law after the nullifying of elections. According to the movie, the Monks died 56-days after their abduction and the government failed to identify the people who killed them. The movie articulates various courses that illuminate religious experience concerning a tiny and exalted tradition. According to the movie, eight monks devote themselves to contemplation service and humility in the society. The movie serves as a reminder that there is a need to have beauty, feeling and art even in times of war. The movie has bloody violent scenes and therefore parents ought to guide children less than thirteen years while they watch it.  
•                                               Thesis Statement
•             Presentation of the benchmarks of Bellour & Penley (IX) that will aid in the analysis of the movie known as “ Of Gods and Men movie” by Xavier Beauvois thus highlighting the numerous learning opportunities to students basing on the filming techniques.
• Discussion 1
• Different opinions from various authors concerning the movie
•             One of the authors who have written about this movie is Peter Bradshaw. He has written an essential article regarding media and filming of the movie. On his article, he offers much information based on monks’ faith while in convents. According to the author, the movie subject surrounds faith and certainty (Bradshaw 18). Bellour and Penly give their views concerning the film by providing criteria that the audience ought to use in order to understand the movie (Bellour & Penly 32). According to Bradshaw, the movie depicts how religious conviction can result to action of weevil that the community may hardly believe. He points out that the audience is able to depict the faith and religion that the filmmaker illustrates as the main aspect in the movie.
•             Bradshaw depicts that the movie is all about how the Monks believed in their God and the trust they had in the spiritual power. He points out one of the main characters known as Luc and uses his explanations towards love to show how the Monks had a strong devotion in their spiritual world. According to Bradshaw, Luc answered the question about love to the young woman in the movie that love is a desire to quicken the holy spirits. This is an indication of how the Monks dedicated their love towards God. Bradshaw depicts that the movie offers a significant lesson towards how to act when there are negative issues in life. He states that the movie demonstrates how the entire community ought to act in times of hardships that come due to various reasons like war.  
•             Emma Jones is another author who provides her views on a BBC entertainment concerning the movie. She argued that the movie development comprises realistic issues that happened to different monks in one of the African countries (Jones n.p). According to Emma Jones, the movie referred to a true story that reflects the actions occurred in 1996. Jones states that on this year, seven of the monks that appear in the movie lost their lives through murder. She also states that even after intervention of many activists, the government failed to discover those people who did the murder. The murder raised a lot of religious violence according to Jones. She states that the filmmaker decided to portray the life of the monks in the film rather than focus much on their death. Jones points out that religious leader contribute positive opinions towards the movie (Jones n.p). Most of the leaders depict that the movie holds an essential positive attitude of the Monks brotherhood. Jones states that one of the Monks who escaped the kidnapping is still alive and he gave his views concerning the movie. The 87 old man pointed out the movie reminded him of the community brothers reflecting on the love they had towards one another (Jones n.p).
•             Another author who contributes about the movie is Tom Piatak. He is a professional journalist who undertakes his work at the chronicles. Although this author does not comment much on the movie, he points out that the movie presents a positive view of religion. He makes it clear that the movie points much about the Christian religion in order to how the community ought to acts in times of hardships in life. Piatak indicates that the movie offers motivation to men and shows them how never to lose hope and faith in God. According to Piatak, the movie offers a significant lesson of how to act in the hardest part of faith. The movie illustrates the importance of forgiveness that every individual ought to expresses, especially when there is a conflict in the society.
•             Jonathan Romney is another author who gives his views about the movie. He works as a film analyzer at the Independent on Sunday. His additional obligations are working at Sight and Sound as an article auditor. According to Romney, he depicts that the article is relevant in a manner that it offers diverse arguments regarding the movie (Romney n.p). The other author who contributes in giving his view about the movie is Schneider Nathan. He is a senior editor at the Internet based magazines, “Killing the Buddha”. Nathan expresses his views towards the setting of the movie with arguments about martyrdom that appears irrelevant currently. He expresses his views towards the suffering and that people accept for purposes of preserving religion (Schneider n.p). According to Schneider, the movie offers some of the tragic but unnecessary suffering to the Monks when demonstrating how they cannot go against their religion. He also states that the movie shows the negative side of the Muslim community especially when reflecting on the suicide bombers. Schneider points out that on several cases, the filmmaker refers to the monks as martyrs because of their dedication to suffer together with other members of the community (Schneider n.p).    
• Discussion 2
• The Stand of Monks towards Religion
•             The monks were against the humiliation and murder acts advanced by Islamic jihads in Algeria. The monks committed their life towards contributing in reconciliation with people especially from Abbey after the colonial rule (Bradshaw 36). The movie portrays the life of monks and their contribution towards undertaking public duties. The movie depicts that the Monks created a firm relationship between them and the Muslim community. The monks were able to make the relationship due to their firm stand on religious matters. According to the movie, the monk faith was against believes of certain communities including the French people who were living in Algeria. This was the reason for their abduction according to many academics although others argue that their kidnappers had political reasons other than religious ones. According to the movie, the monks showed convention of their religious as being silent (Bellour & Penly 45). The filmmaker quotes some parts of the bible that the Monks use to express their love for God.
•             According to the movie, the eight monks living in the Atlas Mountains, the land that belonged to their ancestors are an example of how people ought to live in unity (Bellour & Penly 44). The monks participate in various rituals and common celebrations with their Muslim neighbors. They do not have bad blood with the Muslims even though they are of different religious beliefs. The movie shows that the monks were spending their days tending bees and growing food. Another essential activity that the monks put as first priority in their lives is praying. According to the movie, the monks engaged in all their activities ranging from the young age in the community to the old age. The conversation of the monks is minimal, quite and gentle according to the movie (Bellour & Penly 43). The audience can easily depict any spark of anger and humor made by the monks due to their manner of living. The movie depicts the proper course of action towards religion and the prayerful contemplation of the Monks and its contribution in the society.
•             The filmmaker known as Xavier Beauvois and his co-screenwriter Eitenne Comar illustrates that the Monks refused to go back to their homeland even having the opportunity to do so. The monks did not want to show that they had an advantage over other Algerian communities in everything that they encountered (Schneider n.p). The monks being the main characters in the movie, their role was to show how the community ought to express forgiveness to those who do wrong actions. This was the main reason why they did not opt to flee back to France during the time of war and even refused to receive military protection.      
• Discussion 3
• The Theme and Purpose of the Movie
•             The movie displays various aspects of the of the monk community in convents. The filmmaker based the movie on a true story of French monks and tried to show how their religion had a great impact on the lives of other communities in Algeria. The movie also offers different views presented by Christian communities and the Muslims concerning the prevailing problems that were present in Algeria during the time of production (Jones n.p). The movie systematic language has a massive influence in enhancing comprehension.
•             The movie plays a significant role in the academic community by serving to diverse purposes relating to the religion activities of the monks. The movie depicts various lifestyle of the monk community that facilitated the production of the process (Piatak n.p). The movie presents massive information regarding the outstanding views of Christianity. According to the movie, the monks are example off a community that lives with peace even when the situations are hard. The filmmaker illustrates various bloody scenes that occurred in almost daily after the government nullified the elections but tends to show how the monks played part in controlling the war. Most of the monks experienced various acts that were against human dignity while others faced death but they kept showing love to their Muslim neighbors.
•             Simplicity and charity ought to be the main aspect of their contribution in the movie. However, the monks’ presence, as a group of Christians from Europe staying in a land of Arab Muslims, shows the political contribution in the lives of foreigners (Bradshaw 36). According to the movie, there are evidence of fraught with resentment and bad memories due to the contribution of political godfathers in the civil war. The movie also depicts life of early monks during the time when Algeria was colonial rule. Even though the Monks were tortured and experienced other negative actions in during colonization of Algeria, they did not show any sign of failing to obey their religion practices (Jones n.p). Though the Monks experienced all the bad impacts during the war of fighting for independence, they did not claim for compensation afterwards but they tried to heal the wounds of the war and show love to their Muslim neighbors. This indicates how the Monks believed in forgiveness and show of love to their neighbors.
•             Though the Monks seem to be religious vessels in the movie, they live peacefully with their Muslim brothers. According to the movie, the Monks respect other religions and they do not try to convert their neighbors to join their cult. The movie depicts that Monk’s leaders show love to the Muslim community and even on the times when death is eminent, they do not blame their neighbors (Piatak n.p). The scenes in the movie depict how a particular religious group can experience discrimination and rebuke due to its devotionals in religion activities. The movies depict the power of prayers offered by the Monks and signify how every community ought to give religious activities first priority in their daily life. The movie defines the obligations of religious leaders and political leaders in the society. The movie offers an essential lesson that the community ought to follow on daily life (Piatak n.p).
• Conclusion
•             The movie offers an opportunity of learning to students especially on the importance of religion and believing in God. The movie Cleary shows the students how they should conduct themselves in times of a conflict and illustrates to them the importance of forgiveness. The filmmaker manages to pass his message to the audience through the well-timed scenes reflected on this movie. According to all the scenes in this movie, it is clear that the actors prepared themselves in the recommended way in order to bring the full meaning of their actions to the audience. The movie offers an opportunity to learn various believes of the Monks and the Arab Muslims. The background performance and sound of the movie is perfect. The costumes used in the movie signifies how the community of Monks live and shows how their way of dressing means a lot to them. The filmmaker releases the movie in the right time especially when there are many case of war in the world. The actions and scenes in the movie ought to be a lesson to all the communities in the world. Every community ought to learn the negative impacts of engaging in war and the results of failing to have moral values in the society.
• Works Cited
• Bellour, Raymond. Penley, Constance. The analysis of film. Indiana, 474043797 USA:      Indiana            University Press, 2000. Print
• Bradshaw, Peter. “Of Gods and Men- Review.” The Guardian. 2010. Web. October 3, 2011.

Jones, Emma. “Monk tragedy Of Gods and Men proves surprise hit.” BBC News Entertainment   & Arts. 2010. Web. October 2, 2011.

Piatak, Tom. “Of Gods and Men”. Chronicles Magazine. 2011. Web. October 2, 2011.

Romney, Jonathan. “Memento mori: Of Gods and Men”. The British Film Institute. 2011. Web.   October 3, 2011.

Schneider, Nathan. “Of Gods and MenResurrects Martyrdom”. Religion Dispatches. 2011.   Web. October 3, 2011.