Info from Pat Westphal (thanks, Pat!)
We are pleased to bring you OF GODS AND MEN as our next feature. It starts this Friday, April 22.
Based on the true story of a profound life-and-death crisis faced by a group of French monks in a monastery in Algeria's Atlas Mountains in the mid-1990's. The film emphasizes from the start how well the monks, who are unmistakably there to do service, not proselytize, fit into the town's Muslim community. They attend the birthday parties of local children and run a free medical clinic. But when a gang of terrorists slaughter a group of Croatian construction workers whose only crime is that they are not Muslims, it becomes clear that the monks are living in a different world and must make some hard choices. These days it is unusual to see a screen depiction of faith so entirely devoid of fury, and it is a testimony to the delicacy of the director what remains with you is not the brutality of the monks' fate, but the gentle, sustaining power of their belief.
OF GODS AND MEN will be shown each evening at 7:30 & 9:35. There will be a 4:00 matinee on Friday, plus the usual 1:30 matinees on Saturday and Sunday. It is rated PG-13.
Varsity Theatre
1207 25th St | Des Moines, IA 50311-3005
