Into Great Silence (2005) w/ Manny Marquez

By Thomas Mirus and James Majewski ( bio - articles - email ) | Mar 03, 2026 | In Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast

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Into Great Silence is one of the all-time great documentaries from an artistic point of view, and surely the best ever made on a Catholic subject. Filmmaker Philip Gröning contacted the Grande Chartreuse monastery in the French Alps in 1984, asking if he could come and film the Carthusian monks in their way of life. They responded saying that it was not yet the right time. Sixteen years later, they got back to him saying they were ready to receive him, a single cameraman with no fancy lighting or sound equipment.

Gröning spent six months filming the monastery, sharing the monks’ silent way of life. The film that resulted is as different from other documentaries as the Carthusian rule is from life in the world: the intent was for the film itself to become a monastery. No music, no voiceover, just (mostly) silently and slowly observing the monks’ way of life, as the seductive beauty of life with God is gradually revealed underneath the austere self-denial.

Catholic documentary filmmaker Manny Marquez joins the podcast to discuss Into Great Silence, as well as the documentary genre in general, and his own beautiful film Make Peace or Die, which can be viewed on PBS Passport.

Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com