“Libres”: A Big-Screen Glimpse into the Hidden World of Monasticism

[Michie]

In the third century, a twenty-year-old Egyptian spearheaded a radical new Christian movement. He gave all of his belongings to the poor, dedicated himself to a strict ascetic life, and after some time, retreated into the solitude of the desert for twenty years. St. Anthony of the Desert and the many Desert Fathers and Mothers in his wake birthed the long tradition of Christian monasticism—men and women who give up everything to follow Jesus completely.

A new documentary from Bosco Films shows that this tradition is alive and well, continuing to draw men and women of all ages out from the welter of postmodern pageantry and noise and into the desert of simplicity and silence.

Why would people, especially young people, opt for such a countercultural way of life in the twenty-first century, relinquishing not only a family and individual autonomy, as any priest or woman religious does, but also their possessions, their creature comforts, their means of staying plugged in?

Libres (Free), showing in seven hundred theaters across the United States on November 2 through Fathom Events, takes viewers into a dozen monasteries across Spain. In the tradition of Into Great Silence, it offers us a rare glimpse into the everyday life of cloistered monks and nuns: Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours, solitary prayer and study, conversations over tea and small acts of service—even a competitive game of basketball between nuns in full habit. Beautiful cinematography and stirring spiritual chants and hymns accentuate the natural, unhurried, prayerful rhythms of the cloister—a rich world in which things advance, as several of these men and women say, poco a poco (little by little).

Continued below.

“Libres”: A Big-Screen Glimpse into the Hidden World of Monasticism - Word on Fire

The lives glimpsed in Libres show forth this intimate connection between those called out from the world and a world longing for God.

www.wordonfire.org