FILMS about hermits
Here are some films of interest about hermits and
eremitism. The films fall into two basic categories: 1) documentary
(non-fiction) films and 2) creative (feature) films. For convenience,
the documentary films are in two sections, international and other, the
former more ambitious in scope, the latter more local. The presence of
a film here does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation,
though all the films present hermits in a positive and sympathetic way.
The list is chronological from most recent.
DOCUMENTARY - INTERNATIONAL
Somewhere to Dissappear
(US, 2011)
directed by Laure Flammarion & Arnaud Uyttenhove.
starring Alec Soth; produced by Mas Films.
website: http://www.somewheretodisappearthefilm.com/
from the webite: Somewhere to Disappear is "a
film
about the desire to run away ... photographer Alec Soth traveled across
America looking for people who've retreated from society. Some live in
mountain cabins, some in caves, others in the desert. Who are these
modern hermits? Why do they want to escape?"
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Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer (US,
2011)
directed by Norris Chumley; narrated by Norris Chumley and John
McGuckin; produced byPassion River
websites: http://jesusprayermovie.com;
http://http://mysteriesofthejesusprayer.com
"Clips and scenes":
http://mysteriesofthejesusprayer.com/wp1/?page_id=193
from the webite: [D]esert hermits, monks and nuns
reveal the simple prayer, bringing us into their private cells, caves
and sanctuaries in the Middle East, Mediterranean, Eastern Europe and
Russia. "
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Cold Mountain: Han Shan
(US, 2010)
directed by Mike Hazard and Deb Wallwork; produced by The Center for
International Education
website: http://thecie.org/coldmountain/
First 5 of 30 minutes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIQC0p_xLFk
from the webite: Cold Mountain is "a film
portrait of the Tang Dynasty Chinese poet Han Shan, a.k.a. Cold
Mountain. Recorded on location in China, America and Japan, Burton
Watson, Red Pine [Bill Porter], Jim Lenfestey and the legendary Gary
Snyder describe the poet's life and recite poems." [Han Shan was a
hermit.]
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The Last Anchorite
(UK, 2008)
director and cinematographer, Remigiusz Sowa.
PART 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKXf_7Tt0-c
PART 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag6WE__82Q8
The "last anchorite" is Father Lazarus El-Anthony, a Coptic hermit
living in solitude on Mount Colzim (of St. Anthony's cave), Egypt. An
Australian, he worked as a university lecturer teaching literature and
philosophy, chiefly Marxism. After his mother's death from cancer, he
rethought his life, left Australia, and ultimately came to live as a
monk in the desert of Egypt.
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The Monastery: Mr. Vig and the Nun
(Denmark, 2007)
director and cinematographer, Pernille Rose Grønkjær
produced by Sigrid Dyekjær
from the website (no longer available):
The story of Mr. Vig, a well educated 86 year-old bachelor, and Sister
Amvrosija, a Russian nun, who by chance, or destiny, becomes part of
his life. Mr. Jørgen Laursen Vig is owner of a worn down castle
situated in the Danish country side. All his life Mr. Vig has dreamed
of turning his castle into a Russian orthodox monastery.
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Amongst White Clouds
(Canada, 2005)
produced by Edward Burger
http://www.amongstclouds.com
from the website:
The lives of zealot students, gaunt ascetics and wise masters living in
isolated hermitages dotting the peaks and valleys of China’s Zhongnan
Mountain range. The Zhongnan Mountains have been home to recluses since
the time of the Yellow Emperor, some five thousand years ago. Many of
China's most realized Buddhist masters attained enlightenment in this
very range!
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Into Great Silence
(Germany, 2005)
produced by Philip Groening
http://www.diegrossestille.de/deutsch
- no longer updated
trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgNj2Sf_mgo
from the website:
The Grande Chartreuse, the mother house of the legendary Carthusian
Order, is based in the French Alps. "Into Great Silence" will be the
first film ever about life inside the Grande Chartreuse. ...
Silence. Repetition. Rhythm. The film is an austere, next to silent
meditation on monastic life in a very pure form. No music except the
chants in the monastery, no interviews, no commentaries, no extra
material.
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Cave in the Snow
(Australia, 2002)
produced by Liz Thompson and Ellenor Cox
http://tenzinpalmo.com/shop/
- from the producer: http://www.firelight.com.au/cave.html
from the Tensin Palmo website:
Inspired by the international best-selling biography "Cave in the Snow"
by Vicki McKenzie, this is the documentary of the extraordinary life of
Venerable Tenzin Palmo.
from the production website:
In 1976 she isolated herself for twelve years in a remote Himalayan
cave to deepen her meditation practice. Here she faced unimaginable
cold, wild animals, near-starvation and avalanches; grew her own food
and slept in a traditional wooden meditation box, three-feet-square -
she never lay down.
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Hermits: Freedom or Madness
(Australia, 1998)
produced by Peter Thomas, Albert Sreet Productions/ABC TV (Australia)
http://www.catholictv.tv/new/index.php/programs/113-freedom
from the ABC TV
website:
[This documentary] follows six very different Australians who've all
chosen to live lives
of complete seclusion, free from obligations - withdrawn from society
(yet in some cases still living in urban environs), exploring life in
depth. We meet people like Vyn Bailey, a hermit and yogin - Father
Ronan, a
priest and anchorite - and Pravrajika Ajayaprana, a Hindu nun.
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CREATIVE
Get Low (USA, 2009)
produced by Dean Zanuck; directed by Aaron Schneider
http://www.sonyclassicals.com/getlow
from the website:
For years, townsfolk had been terrified of the backwoods recluse Felix
Bush. People say he's done all manner of unspeakable things ... Then,
one day, Felix rides into town and says he wants a living funeral, in
which anyone who has heard a story about him will come to tell it. ...
Behind Felix's surreal plan lies a very real and long-held secret that
must get out. ... But on the big day, he's the one who is going to do
the telling about why he has been hiding out in the woods. |
Shaking Tokyo (Japan, 2008) 1 of 3 short films
comprising Tokyo!
by various directors
produced and directed by Bong Joon-Ho
http://www.tokyothemovie.com/
[available on YouTube in 4 parts; subtitled]
from the website:
For more than 10 years, he's been a hikikomori. He lives shut up in his
apartment, strictly limiting all contact with the outside world to an
absolute minimum. When a pizza delivery girl faints in his home during
an earthquake, the unthinkable happens — he falls in love. Shortly
after, he learns that the girl has in turn become a hikikomori. Will he
dare cross the threshold that separates his apartment from the rest of
the world? |
 Ostrov
(The Island)
(Russia, 2006)
directed by Pavel Lungin
http://www.ostrov-film.ru
from the website:
In northern Russia, on a desert island, Anatoly lives [as a hermit] in
a small Orthodox monastery, working in the boiler room. Fellow monks
are embarrassed by his strange behavior but people come from afar
believing that Anatoly is able to provide wise counsel, to cure
sickness, and to exorcise demons. Anatoly never refuses to help, but he
suffers the weight of conscience from a war-time murder. |
Milarepa (Bhutan,
2006)
produced by Neten Chokling
from the website (no longer available):
Milarepa, one of the most widely known Tibetan saints, is also revered
for the verses he composed throughout his life, known as the Hundred
Thousand Songs of Milarepa. His faithful devotion to his teacher,
Marpa, astonishing perseverance, and ultimate attainment made his life
story into a legend, inspiring millions.
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The Man Who Planted Trees
(Canada, 1987)
Produced by Frédéric Back
based on the book of the same
title (L'Homme qui plantait des arbres) by Jean
Giono.
The story of a shepherd who repairs
the ruined
ecosystem of a secluded valley by single-handedly cultivating a forest
over a thirty year period. Over 35 years, Elzeard Bouffier quietly
cultivated a magnificent forest in a desolate area of southern France.
The tale is told by a young traveler who happens upon the old gentleman
one day, and finds himself returning to rediscover the landscape
several times over the following decades.
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Dersu Uzala (USSR/Japan, 1974)
Directed and screenplay by Akira Kurosawa.
Set at the turn of the twentieth century, the film tells
the story of a Mongol hermit living alone in the Siberian taiga who is
befriended by a Russian captain surveying the area. The captain and his
soldiers take on Dersu as an invaluable guide. Dersu displays an
intimate knowledge of nature and survival, and the captain comes to
recognize rare gifts in the simple frontiersman. An epic scale yet
modest and deliberate in its depth .
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Simon of the Desert (Simón del
desierto) (Mexico. 1965)
Directed by Luis Buñuel.
Despite Buñuel's reputation for anti-clericalism and
atheism, this portrait of Simon Stylites, the 5th-century desert hermit
who stood on a pillar most of his life, is imminently sympathetic with
the protagonist's rejection of the world. "The character really moves
me. I enjoy his sincerity, his lack of interest, his innocence," said
Buñuel in an interview. Simon is tormented by the devil (a woman) in
various guises, and black humor reveals the foibles of Simon's various
visitors, though none of whom affects Simon's stolid perseverance. A
bitter satire? or rather a thoughtful and provocative look at what it
takes to oppose modern culture, noise, and decadence. Hermitary
review.
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DOCUMENTARY - OTHER
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 The Old Hermit's Hut
(Canada, 2009)
Produced by Chantelle Collet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUF2thAEIdM
from the YouTube description:
Deep in Northern Canada a hermit built a hut on his own using unlikely
materials as flattened tin cans for the roof, carpets, and other found
materials. One winter, years before, he passed away, with his pet pig.
due to the cold. Chantelle Collet would visit the abandoned hut many
times in her youth, and returned years later to film the hut. [filmed
in 16 mm black & white]
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 Willard:
The Hermit of Gully Lake (Canada, 2007)
Produced by Amy Goldberg
http://www.pushbackproductions.com/willard.html
from the website:
In the 1940’s American-born Willard (Kitchener) MacDonald jumped his
troop train heading to WWII. Fearing authorities he lived as a hermit
deep in the northern wilderness of Nova Scotia, Canada for more than 60
years. This is the true story of "The Hermit of Gully Lake," a man who
lived a life that the rest of us could never endure. He was a soul in
exile ... that touched the lives of so many ....
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The Hermit of Manana
(USA, 2006)
Produced by Elisabeth Harris
http://thehermitofmanana.com
from the website:
Ray Eugene Phillips was born in 1892, attended the
University
of Maine, fought in World War I, held down a job in New York City in
the bustling 1920s, and then, seemingly on a whim, happily decided to
leave it all behind for a life of solitude on the tiny, isolated island
of Manana, Maine. He spent the rest of his life there, with a herd of
sheep and a gander, a small wooden rowboat, in a shack made out of
materials that washed up onto the shore.
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The Fort Fisher Hermit
(USA, 2006)
Produced by Rob Hill
http://www.thefortfisherhermit.com
from the website:
What causes Robert E. Harrill, a 20-year old man, to travel from his
lifelong home in the mountains
to the coast of North Carolina and spend the remainder of his life
without a house, job, or any other physical means of support, and in
the process become
the second largest tourist attraction in North Carolina in the late
1960s?
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Alone in the Wilderness
(USA, 2003)
Produced by Bob Swerer Productions
Dick Proenneke (1916-2003) ventured alone into the Alaska wilderness in
the late 1960s, built a log cabin homestead, and remained living there
nearly 40 years. Other Swerer films about Proenneke are Alaska:
Silence and Solitude (1998) and The
Frozen North (2006). View a web video
(ca. 9 min.) of Alone in the Wilderness.
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