Last Day and Lunch

On the last day of the Festival repeat screenings showcase the favorites and award winners of the past 12 days. With luck and planning one can cram another 4-5 movies in. I had planned on three but the crowds were enormous and I opted out of seeing one. The pass-holder lines were 50 deep an hour and a half before the screening. They were using only the two movie theatres so seating was an issue. I started with “Of Gods and Men” a French film chronicling the events that led up to the disappearance from their Algerian monastery of 6 Cistercian Monks in the mid 1990s. Living in graceful harmony with the local population their safety becomes an issue when fundamentalist terrorists become active in their region. It is a slow moving meditation on the question of should they stay or leave. The locals depend on them for many things especially that one of the monks is a doctor and the only one in the region. When the doctor at gunpoint is asked to treat one of the terrorists the local military gets wind of it and starts their own harassment of the monks and their flock. Their decision-making involves extended scenes of ecclesiastical exercises with accompanying chant/singing, some of it quite beautiful. I found these scenes tedious overwrought. Still, it is a beautifully filmed and wonderfully acted depiction of the growing rift between cultures and creeds. It won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes and the National Board of Review awarded it as Best Foreign Language Film. The PSIFF also chose it as the Best Foreign Language Film. It has an important and timely message and I think it has been submitted for Oscar consideration.
I had lunch at Sherman’s, a fabulous, grilled Pastrami Reuben, and returned to the theatre for “The Hedgehog.” Based on Muriel Barbery’s much-praised story “The Elegance of the Hedgehog” we are introduced to the characters in a high end Paris apartment building by brilliant and cynical 11-year Paloma. Director, Mona Achache, has captured the philosophical essence of the novel with great charm and humor. This is a “must see!”