Tragic slaying of French monks in Algerian civil war is touchy subject of Cannes film

True Algerian tragedy inspires contemplative film

CANNES, France — A gruesome true story plucked from the news headlines — the 1996 beheading of seven French monks during Algeria’s bloody civil war — is the inspiration for one of the most contemplative and contained movies yet at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Shown Tuesday, “Of Gods and Men” chronicles the months leading up to the monks’ kidnapping and execution, painting a subtle portrait of their crises of faith as they grapple with whether to remain in an Algeria riven by the struggle between Islamist insurgents and government forces.

The killings were blamed on a radical group, but some observers have suggested the Algerian military was behind the tragedy — which remains a hot-button issue in the North African country.

In his remarkably composed and understated movie, director Xavier Beauvois treads lightly, giving the controversy a wide berth and focusing instead on the monks’ inner struggles.

“What interested me was the story of these men, who they were, and the rest, well, we don’t really know,” Beauvois said in a news conference, adding that he personally favored the hypothesis of a blunder by the Algerian military.

Screenwriter Etienne Comar, who co-wrote the script with Beauvois, said the movie mimics the neutrality of the real-life monks.

“The monks insisted on being extremely neutral, on not taking sides,” Comar said. “They called the terrorists ‘the brothers from the mountain’ and called the people from the army ‘the brothers from the plain.’ … It seems totally coherent for the movie to adopt their point of view.”

Algeria’s civil war erupted in 1992 when the army canceled elections that Islamic candidates were expected to win. In the ensuing years, bars, nightclubs and anything else the militants deemed Western were targeted. As many as 200,000 people died in the conflict.

“Of Gods and Men” opens with a graphic scene of radicals cutting the throats of a group of Croatian construction workers. The incident drives home the precariousness of the monks’ situation and prompts them to consider abandoning the monastery — and the local villagers who rely on their presence to keep both the military and the Islamists at bay.

The men debate and pray, brood and cry out to God to help them keep their faith — and accept the eventual decision to stay in Algeria — even as their fate becomes increasingly clear. As the end approaches, the camera zooms in on their eyes, where their moral dilemma plays out with remarkable vividness.

Actors Lambert Wilson and Michael Lonsdale deliver strong performances as the head monk and a monk-doctor running a clinic to serve the local population.

Beauvois and Comar said they conducted extensive research into the slayings but intentionally avoided going into too much detail in the movie.

“We wanted the story to be as universal as possible,” Comar said. “References to Algeria are clearly there, but we tried to open the film the most we could.”

The real-life monastery is in the village Tibhirine, 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of the capital, Algiers, but “Of Gods and Men” was filmed in neighboring Morocco.

Beauvois emphasized that the decision on where to shoot had nothing to do with the still slightly shaky security situation in Algeria — where al-Qaida-allied fighters leftover from the civil war continue to regularly target government forces and in recent years have stepped up attacks against foreigners.

“Some news stories have said that I filmed in Morocco because of security reasons, but in fact, I did not at all. I never had any intention of shooting anywhere else,” Beauvois said.

“Of Gods and Men” is one of two films about Algeria in competition at Cannes this year. “Outsiders of the Law,” by Rachid Bouchareb, has already sparked a controversy in France, with a lawmaker from the governing conservative party denouncing it as anti-French and some veterans’ and others groups also criticizing it.

The story of three Algerian-born brothers, the movie is partly set during the country’s bloody struggle for independence from France. For many French, the colonial period still remains a touchy subject. “Outsiders of the Law” screens at the festival on Friday.

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