Essene

ESSENE is about daily life in a Benedictine monastery and the resolution of conflict between personal needs and the institutional and organisational priorities of the community. In the Order, where the focus of life is the relationship of individual work and worship to the community as a whole, the brethren must cope with the same issues that arise in any community: rules, work, worship, values, love, and play.

“ESSENE is one of the best religious films ever made… Frederick Wiseman’s cinéma vérité look at life inside a monastery also studies the essential meanings inherent in any institutional framework. Wiseman conveys humility without resorting to humble expressions, an awareness of profound piety without mock spirituality. ESSENE raises the question of God urgently and eloquently.” (Malcom Boyd, The New York Times)

This film is part of FREDERICK WISEMAN: LOOKING FOR CONNECTION, in which ten films by the American master of documentary form the backbone of a programme about communities and third spaces.