'Of Gods and Men' is a martyrdom masterpiece

OF GODS AND MENRating: PG-13 for a momentary scene of startling wartime violence, some disturbing images and brief language.Running: 2 hours, 2 minutes.Note: In French with subtitles.

Monastic life is anything but tedious in Xavier Beauvois' masterful drama "Of Gods and Men," based on the real-life tragedy of seven French monks abducted and beheaded during Algeria's civil war in 1996.

The film is largely built of ordinary tasks and everyday moments: monks tending their crops, treating Muslim villagers at the monastery clinic, caring for their beehives and taking the honey they produce to market, sharing simple meals, and, of course, chanting in devotion during Mass.

Underlying all this is a tangible, terrible tension. These good Christians know there are forces - both in the besieged government and among terrorists who want to bring it down - that no longer want them there. The atrocities happening all around them - Croatian construction workers whose throats are slit, young women shot dead because they were not wearing veils - make it unbearably clear to the monks that their lives are in danger each day they choose to stay.

Martyrdom is not something for which any of these unassuming, frightened men signed up. Their crises of faith range from virtually none at all (one or two unflinchingly say at the outset that it's their duty to God and humanity to remain at their posts) to quivering terror (some monks confess at the start they want to flee to safety).

What follows is a glorious story of brotherhood, no matter what you think of the monks. These are men battling to validate the place they have made for themselves in this life, and watching that struggle is fascinating.

The film is filled with melodic, joyous invocations as the monks sing praise to God and pursue somber, lyrical discourses as they debate their plight and ask heaven for guidance. Lambert Wilson as head monk Christian and Michael Lonsdale as monk-physician Luc lead a cast that is, without overstatement, divine.

The story is less about specific enemies and more about the denial of enmity - the certitude that devotion is devotion, which should not waver when circumstances are troubling or threatening.

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