The documentary film “Libres”, in theaters on October 2, takes spectators into two thousand year old Spanish monasteries. If it offers magnificent images of life in the heart of these secret places, this feature film is first and foremost the response of those who have abandoned everything for God to the great questions that cross the human heart.
free. Strange choice of title for a film about monastic life, when the men and women we meet there live in closed places. Paradox? No, quite the contrary. free takes us inside the centuries-old enclosures of twelve Spanish monasteries. By filming these places between earth and sky, outside the world and time, Santos Blanco’s documentary is a journey into the heart of man, much more than a description of the life with the precise program of monks and nuns. Two types of sequences alternate in the film: those, very contemplative, of life in monasteries and of nature. Finally, those of the interviews with religious people filmed with their faces uncovered, but which remain anonymous. Through their testimonies, they probe the great questions of the human heart about the meaning of life. We discover atypical paths, like this mother of six children who decides, in her old age, to return to the monastery. Or this Carthusian monk, a sort of modern-day Augustine: immersed in occultism and Satanism, his mother’s tireless prayer will eventually lead him to conversion, then to the total gift of his life to Christ.
So many journeys of redemption, far from the cliché of elusive characters, levitating above human realities. Behind these faces with their eyes full of God, there is suffering, faults, death, forgiveness, humbly recounted in front of the camera. But above all, there is the story of a crazy love story. Because this film is an encounter with transit lovers of Christ, burning hearts. Like this nun with a wrinkled and luminous face, where tears suddenly appear when she testifies: “When I understood that Christ lived, my heart exploded”.
A film for our times
There is also a mystical dimension in freewhere testimonies mingle with the breathtaking beauty of the images of creation, manifestation of the greatness of an infinite God. A raging sea with waves crashing against the rock of black cliffs, the thick vegetation and waterways of a forest, the knotty furrows of the bark of old trees… We find a little bit of Terrence Malick, the director ofA hidden lifein these shots shot like so many master paintings, where a splendid and majestic nature alternates with age-old gestures in chiaroscuro, like the graceful and aerial dance of a hand guiding a Gregorian chant. Other images shot with a drone offer the striking impression of flying under the immense vaults of a thousand-year-old abbey church.
free is a profoundly contemporary film: to all the questions that cross, sooner or later, everyone’s mind and heart, these religious people have the keys to answer them. The encounter, the choice, the meaning of life, silence and peace. But also suffering, the unfathomable question of evil and death are addressed. Carried by original music of great beauty, the film is a song of love to wounded humanity, to vulnerability and to the infinite value of each life. We are overwhelmed by the tenderness and fraternal love of the religious for their sick and their elders, cajoled, looked at with love, valued and respected. How can we not see here a magnificent and impactful response to a society which believes that the dignity of the little ones deserves no more than assisted suicide or euthanasia? Yes, truly, in these walls far from the noise of our times, there are men and women capable of guiding man in his quest, lost as he is in a world that has forgotten God. “Libres” is to be seen and re-watched, because all the keys are there.
Practical
free from Santos Blanco, 1h44. In theaters October 2, 2024.
