INTO GREAT SILENCE: In 1984, German filmmaker Philip Gröning wrote to the Carthusian order of Grande Chartreuse, requesting permission to make a documentary about their monastery. The monks, famously ascetic—and who ordinarily do not accept visitors—politely told him that they would think about it. Sixteen years later, Gröning received an affirmative, provided that he lived with them for six months and shot the film on his own, without burdensome lighting or equipment. The result is an intimate portrait of the daily routines of contemplative life, itself more meditation than documentary film.