“Into Great Silence,” a new movie from filmmaker Philip Groning, is unlike any movie you have probably ever seen. For starters, it’s only a few minutes short of three hours – comparable to a Lord of the Rings installment. This is pretty long for a movie in general, but this one is a documentary. The setting is a monastery in the French Alps; the characters, the group of monks that live there; and the subject matter is basically the lives of these monks.

The topic is very interesting – these monks have never been put on the silver screen, and Groning had to harass them for 19 years to get clearance to film inside the monastery. In this way, the film definitely serves as a window into a world so different from the fast-paced, consumer lifestyles that we live in the West. Life in this monastery is not even comparable to life in “East” or “West;” it seems so different and removed from typical human experience that it is incredible to imagine that people live like this. The monks, (of the Carthusian Order of the Roman Catholic Church) live very simple, slow lives, never really leaving the confines of their property. And another thing, they take the vow of silence.

This is of course an astonishing concept, and very thought provoking, but, in my opinion, is not the best feature for your main characters in such a long film. There is no commentary, no music (other than the monks occasionally chanting) and you only hear the voices of the monks during the time of the week when they have a discussion (which doesn’t make up much of the movie at all). Other movies, such as Baraka (a silent film showing the world in all its complexities) can be very effective and get by without relying on words, but in this case, it becomes a little too sparse.

The director says one of his goals with the film was not only to depict life in a monastery, but have the movie “become a monastery itself.” In this sense, it is very effective. It shows the routine of everyday life, and focuses on the intense silence and solitude that can only be achieved by monastic life.

From an artistic point of view, it is also very beautifully shot. Its greatest pitfall (although obviously a deliberate choice by the filmmakers) is the overbearing silence. It creates a very meditative mood, so much so, that you could close your eyes, open them a few seconds or minutes later, and nothing really has changed in the movie. Just as I imagine the monks can do– close their eyes for hours or days, and when they open them again, absolutely nothing will have changed.

There is a scene when a new monk arrives, and he is told that to live here, he has to adhere to the vow of silence, and that he is on probation for a few months to see if he can handle life there. I felt like I was being tested in the same way. He was being tested for three months; I was being tested for three hours; a test of patience, and being content with simplicity, and the ever-present silence.

I really like the idea for a movie like this – showing the audience a world that has never been shown to them before, and depicting characters whose lives are so different from ours – but I just feel as though it doesn’t translate well to a movie of this length without the support of some commentary or a musical score.

If you are interested in seeing life in a monastery, this is definitely the movie to see. But if you are interested in an exciting “night out at the movies,” this may not be what you expect.