By Peter T. Chattaway

THE VANCOUVER International Film Festival (VIFF) has come and gone, but at least some of the movies shown there will be coming back to local theatres in the near future.

One of my favourites has already returned, sort of. The film in question, Carlos, is a slightly fictionalized but heavily researched dramatization of the life and career of Carlos the Jackal (Édgar Ramírez), a Venezuelan terrorist who was active in Europe and the Middle East in the 1970s and early 1980s.

It is directed by Olivier Assayas, whose previous (and very different) film Summer Hours was one of my favourite films of the last two years. The version of Carlos I saw at the festival was nearly six hours long, including intermission – but the version now playing in theatres runs only two and a half hours.

I have no idea which bits have been cut to make the film’s running time more manageable. But if you’re a history buff like me, it’s probably well worth a look even in its shorter version – not least because, for all its epic scale, it never forgets that the man at the heart of all these headline-making events really was, for all his bluster, just a man.

Some of my other favourite VIFF experiences won’t be returning to Vancouver until sometime next year.

Chief among these is Of Gods and Men, which tells the story of several French monks who were abducted by an Islamist militia during the Algerian civil war in 1996, and later died under mysterious and controversial circumstances.

I’d have to say it’s a must-see, partly because it pays so much attention to the spiritual practices of the monks themselves.

Instead of dwelling on the politics of the period or pumping up the dramatic tension, the film focuses on the life of prayer and worship within the monastery, and on how it enables these men to minister to their neighbours and to accept their fate when it comes.

I hope to say more about that movie when it returns. In the meantime, keep an eye open for it.

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Speaking of films with a monastic subject, I am told that Vision, a movie about the 12th-century nun Hildegard von Bingen, will be released locally on November 26.

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I have not seen the film myself, yet, but I do know it is directed by Margarethe von Trotta, who is regarded as something of a pioneer of both modern German and feminist cinema, and that the film’s trailer plays up the conflict between Hildegard’s mysticism and the stern authoritarianism of the medieval church. Could be worth a look, at least.

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And speaking of festivals, the Amnesty International Film Festival takes place at the VanCity Theatre November 18 – 21.

Among the documentaries on offer this year will be The Devil Operation, which concerns a Peruvian priest named Father Marco who sides with local farming communities against one of the world’s largest gold mines – and earns the nickname ‘The Devil’ for his efforts.

Also on tap is Pray the Devil Back to Hell, which shows how women in Liberia – Christian and Muslim alike – prayed and worked for peace during that country’s recent civil war.

See amnestyfilmfest.ca for exact showtimes.

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Corbin Bernsen has been making the rounds lately, promoting his newest film Rust (which just came out on DVD) to the Christian media. The film, which was written and directed by Bernsen (the onetime star of L.A. Law and Major League), concerns a minister who has a crisis of faith – so there’s an obvious hook there for the religious market.

But there’s an extra hook for Canadians. The film was made in (and financed by) the town of Kipling, Saskatchewan, which first came into contact with Bernsen a few years ago when they were both part of the ‘red paperclip’ trade – whereby a blogger named Kyle MacDonald traded a paperclip for something more valuable, and then traded that for something even more valuable, and so on and so on, until he had a house.

Bernsen offered MacDonald a part in one of his movies, and MacDonald traded that for a house in Kipling, so Bernsen cast a resident of Kipling in one of his movies instead. But the town and the actor hit it off so well that they decided to make another movie together, this time featuring the entire town. Rust is the result.

Featuring local residents in several key roles, the film has the admirable can-do spirit of, say, the Sherwood films (Fireproof, etc.), though it is more concerned with telling a generally inspiring story than in pushing any specific Christian message. Still, its heart is in the right place, and it has a few themes that are worth teasing out.

– filmchatblog.blogspot.com

November 2010