Good Lenten Movie Alert: The Island

This Russian (subtitled) film is not for everyone: it is slow moving, meditative, and deeply spiritual. Father Anatoly is an eccentric, mystical, guilt-ridden (WWII incident) monk in the “holy fool” tradition who attracts people because of strange powers to heal, exorcise and prophesize. It will probably be incomprehensible and even ridiculous to a secular mind. It pushes beyond the boundaries of the Western, and even the ordinary Roman Catholic, mind into a domain where the supernatural, including the demonic, is as close as the air we breathe. The chilling, stark Russian environment becomes a leading actor in the tradition of Lawrence of Arabia, Into Great Silence and Black Robe. Either of the two exorcism scenes is alone worth the price of admission. I have never seen genuine, heartfelt prayer like this in any other movie: a masterpiece and a great Lenten meditation.