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spacetime coordinates: 19th century Estonia
November is a 2017 Estonian fantasy drama film directed by Rainer Sarnet, based on Andrus Kivirähk‘s novel Rehepapp ehk November (Old Barny aka November).
“Sarnet’s earthbound fairy tale occupies a dreamscape somewhere between the teeming canvases of Brueghel and the existential agonies of Bela Tarr‘s films.” Sheri Linden
spacetime coordinates: 1943 Norway > Sweden, via Lyngenhalvøya and Manndalen
The 12th Man is a 2017 Norwegian historical drama directed by Harald Zwart and written by Petter Skavlan. The main role of Jan Baalsrud is played by Thomas Gullestad, who escapes from Germans in Rebbenesøya, via Lyngen Fjord and Manndalen, to neutral Sweden in the spring of 1943.
The film is based on the same historical events and has the same protagonist as the Arne Skouen Oscar-nominated film Nine Lives, in which Baalrud’s courage and stamina were also emphasized. The 12th Man is also based on the book Jan Baalsrud and Those Who Saved Him, written by Tore Haug and Astrid Karlsen Scott. Unlike the book, the film puts much emphasis on the efforts of those who helped Baalsrud escape, which was in line with Baalsrud’s own statements about the local population’s courage. The 12th Man’s plot also details the pursuit of Baalsrud from the Gestapo leadership’s perspective, with the escape being depicted as cat-and-mouse game between Sturmbannführer Kurt Stage and Baalsrud. According to German documents, the Nazis believed that the entire Resistance had perished in a blast, meaning that there are no reports indicating that the Germans even knew to hunt for Baalsrud. Baalsrud himself, however, claims that he killed two German soldiers in the fight, which would have definitely created a sharp German response. (wiki)
spacetime coordinates: 1996, Algeria, Abbey of Our Lady of Atlas
“I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.”
Of Gods and Men is a 2010 French drama film directed by Xavier Beauvois, starring Lambert Wilson and Michael Lonsdale. Its original French language title is Des hommes et des dieux, which means “Of Men and of Gods” and refers to a verse from the Bible shown at the beginning of the film. It centers on the monastery of Tibhirine, where nine Trappist monks lived in harmony with the largely Muslim population of Algeria, until seven of them were kidnapped and assassinated in 1996 during the Algerian Civil War.
Largely a tale of a peaceful situation between local Christians and Muslims before becoming a lethal one due to external forces, the screenplay focuses on the preceding chain of events in decay of government, expansion of terrorism, and the monks’ confrontation with both the terrorists and the government authorities that led up to their deaths. Principal photography took place at an abandoned monastery in Azrou, Morocco. (wiki)
spacetime coordinates: 2002 – 2003, Grande Chartreuse, Chartreuse Mountains
Into Great Silence (German: Die große Stille) is a documentary film directed by Philip Gröning that was released in 2005. It is an intimate portrayal of the everyday lives of Carthusian monks of the Grande Chartreuse, a monastery high in the French Alps.
The idea for the film was proposed to the monks in 1984, but the Carthusians said they wanted time to think about it. They responded to Gröning 16 years later to say they were willing to permit him to shoot the movie if he was still interested. Gröning then came alone to live at the monastery, where no visitors were ordinarily allowed, for a total of six months. He filmed and recorded on his own, using no artificial light. Gröning then spent two and a half years editing the film. The final cut contains neither spoken commentary nor added sound effects. It consists of images and sounds that depict the rhythm of monastic life, with occasional intertitles displaying selections from Holy Scripture. (wiki)
O-Bi, O-Ba: The End of Civilization (Polish: O-bi, o-ba: Koniec cywilizacji) is a 1985 Polish drama science fiction film written and directed by Piotr Szulkin.
Starring Jerzy Stuhr and Krystyna Janda, the film takes place in a post-apocalyptic future where humans live in an isolated vault which is falling apart. Their only grain of hope lies in a vessel known as The Ark which is said to be on its way to rescue them…
spacetime coordinates: 17th century Spain / the Netherlands ( Eighty Years’ War)
Alatriste is a 2006 Spanish epic historical fiction war film directed by Agustín Díaz Yanes, based on the main character of a series of novels written by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Adventures of Captain Alatriste (Las aventuras del Capitán Alatriste).
The film, which stars Viggo Mortensen, is the second most expensive Spanish language film ever made in Spain (about €24 million – US$30 million); only preceded by Agora. It portrays Spain of the 17th century using both fictional and real characters. (wiki)
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