Of Gods and Men
Based on true events, Of Gods and Men follows nine French monks who must decide whether to flee their monastery when civil war and Islamic terrorists threaten.
Directed by Xavier Beauvois
(PG-13)
****
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Of Gods and Men is a “remarkable” study of how people of faith cope “when their ideals are challenged by violent reality,” said The Economist. Based on true events, the film follows nine French monks living in Algeria’s Atlas Mountains who must decide whether to flee their monastery when civil war and Islamic terrorist attacks intensify around them. Our sense of what they’d be losing is established early, said Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times. The Christian monks, with their humble sense of service, fit so gracefully into the lives of their Muslim neighbors that it seems as if both groups were “living in a paradise on earth.” When violence spreads and authorities advise evacuation, the monks are pained by the thought that doing so would be a betrayal to the village itself. As revolts today spread across North Africa and the Middle East, this award-winning film has an “unmistakably timely resonance,” said A.O. Scott in The New York Times. “Beautiful, somber, and rigorously intelligent,” it is a testament to the power of piety as well as to the universal human need “for beauty, feeling, and art.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Trinidadian doubles recipe
The Week Recommends 'Dangerously addictive', this traditional Caribbean street food is the height of finger-licking goodness
By Rebekah Evans, The Week UK
-
Labour and the so-called 'banter ban'
Talking Point Critics are claiming that a clause in the new Employment Rights Bill will spell the end of free-flowing pub conversation
By Richard Windsor, The Week UK
-
Andor series two: a 'perfect' Star Wars show
The Week Recommends Second instalment of Tony Gilroy's 'compelling' spin-off is a triumph
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK