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Reba McEntire to join Blake Shelton on “The Voice”

NBC revealed that it will add more star-power to its new vocal competition series “The Voice” with Oklahoma-born and bred country superstar Reba McEntire, fellow singers Monica and Sia (Furler) and music producer Adam Blackstone joining the series as new advisers who will lend their experience and talents to musician coaches Blake Shelton, Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green and Adam Levine or the next “Battles” competition phase.

“The Voice” next airs from 8 to 10 p.m. Tuesday, May 3 and then will be broadcast from 9 to 10 p.m. each Tuesday night on May 10, May 17 and May 24 following new episodes of
The Biggest Loser” (from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays).

Shelton (on Twitter @blakeshelton) will team with fellow Oklahoma native and music veteran Reba (@Reba), Aguilera (@therealxtina) with singer/songwriter Sia (@Siamusic), Levine (@adamlevine) with Maroon 5 Music Director Blackstone (@bassicblack) and Green (@CeeLoGreen) with singer Monica (@MonicaMyLife) – eventually cutting their teams in half by pitting two of their own artists against each other in a series of dueling duets.

Each of the musician coaches chose their advisers to help them at the next “Battles” stage that lasts across four episodes, according to a news release. Reba, Monica, Sia and Blackstone were picked because they are in the trusted inner circle of the respective musician coach that they are helping. They are being brought in by the musician coaches to bring out the best in each of their artists, help to select songs that suit specific vocal styles and provide advice for performance. These adviser rosters will expand when the competition moves on to the live performance stage.

The Grammy Award-winning Reba is one of country’s music’s most celebrated singers and holds the record for the most Top Female Vocalist Awards received from the Academy of Country Music Awards as well as the most from the American Music Awards for Favorite Country Female Artist. She has had at least one No. 1 hit in four different decades. Some of her multitude of successful albums include “Whoever’s in New England,” “The Last One to Know,” “Sweet Sixteen,” “Rumor Has It,” “For My Broken Heart,” “Read My Mind,” “Reba ­ Duets” and “All the Women I Am,” as well as Christmas and a series of “Greatest Hits” albums. She has had 35 No. 1 Billboard singles in the U.S.

In addition, Reba has starred on Broadway in “Annie Get Your Gun” and in “South Pacific: In Concert from Carnegie Hall.” She starred in her own television comedy series “Reba” from 2001-07 and appeared in the feature films “Tremors” and “North,” and in the TV movies “Is There Life Out There” and “The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw.”

She and Shelton co-hosted the April 3 Academy of Country Music Awards, and they are a dynamic duo. Reba and Shelton also will team up for a tornado benefit show May 26 at Choctaw Casino in Durant.

On April 14, a tornado hit Tushka in Atoka County. All proceeds from the “Tornado Relief Concert” will go toward Atoka County’s ongoing relief efforts through the Tushka Disaster Relief Fund. Tickets will be available beginning at 10 a.m. May 6 and may be purchased by phone at 800-585-3737 or online at www.choctawcasinos.com.

Shelton talked about “The Voice,” his recent career success and his new single “Honey Bee” at a party this week to celebrate his latest No. 1 hit “Who Are You When I’m Not Looking. To read what he had to say at the Nashville event, click here.

Read more about the other celebrities joining “The Voice” after the break.

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Flaming Lips’ Steven Drozd to speak at ACM@UCO’s first graduation ceremony

The Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma (ACM@UCO) has a full calendar for the rockin’ month of May.

Getting it started a bit early, The Turtles featuring Flo and & Eddie will perform tonight at an ACM@UCO fundraiser. Mark Volman – AKA Flo – of 1960s band the Turtles was set to give a master class at the school Friday, according to a news release. The Los Angeles native found fame with his band’s 1967 hit single “Happy Together,” and he was invited to give students an in-depth discussion of his career and performance.

On May 4, ACM@UCO will have its inaugural graduation ceremonies, bidding farewell to its first class of students, including those who have landed high-profile jobs in the music industry. Multi-instrumentalist and former master class speaker Steven Drozd of Oklahoma City-based psychedelic rockers The Flaming Lips is confirmed as the special guest speaker for the event.

On May 5, 60 ACM@UCO-affiliated bands will perform across 11 venues in Oklahoma City’s historic district as part of ACM@UCO’s Bricktown Takeover.

On May 7, ACM@UCO’s student-run Performance Lab will play host to a performance by Man Man, followed by The Black Angels on May 20.

On May 10, ACM@UCO will host a master class with guitar legend Robben Ford.

-BAM

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Norman Music Festival takes it outside, closes out today

The Norman Music Festival is taking it outside today, the final day of the three-day indie-rock extravaganza.

The festival is free and open to the public and will take place on the 100, 200 and 300 blocks of historic Downtown East Main Street, east of the railroad tracks in the Arts District. The music starts at 11 a.m. today and continues into the wee hours of Sunday morning.

After two days of making music predominantly at indoor locations, today will feature the full-blown festival atmosphere complete with street closures and large outdoor stages. Audiences will rock out to headlining bands The Walkmen, Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears, Peelander-Z and many, many more.

The Oklahoman Entertainment Editor Gene Triplett breaks down some of the local and national acts set for the festival in this column.

For more information, go to www.normanmusicfestival.com.

-BAM

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Pottery Place fires up fun at the Festival of the Arts

For at least a few minutes Friday, the four Nelson siblings all stood still and quietly together, intently slathering small clay pots with purple and green glazes.

“Mommy, can we paint the inside, too?” asked Samuel, 4, carefully working his paintbrush around the curved sides of the squat vessel. “How much are we supposed to paint it?”

“Yes, you can paint the inside. Paint it however you want to paint it, inside and out. Just don’t paint the bottom, you’ll cover up the numbers,” instructed his mother, Mary Nelson.

Nelson and her children — Samuel; Patrick, 6; Maggie, 8; and Hannah, 10 — were evacuated from their home at Yokota Air Base in Japan after the recent earthquakes. But children got to decorate Japanese Raku-style pots Friday at the Pottery Place, a favorite attraction at the downtown Festival of the Arts.

“That is funny,” said Mary Nelson, who along with her children is living with her parents in Shawnee while her husband serves in Afghanistan. “I think it’s a great activity for them.”

For Collin Rosebrook, proprietor of Paseo Pottery studio, this festival marks his 23^rd year of running the Pottery Place, where attendees can buy premade ceramic pots, color them with three different glazes and have them fired in the Raku process. while they peruse the other event offerings. The pots are sold in various sizes, ranging in price from $5 to $20, and are ready in about an hour.

 

“They’re all handmade, and each one is so individual that people really enjoy doing it,” said Rosebrook, coughing occasionally as the “troublesome” high winds blew smoke and dust. “We’ll get close to 120 pots an hour on Friday-Saturday. We’ll be busy on Saturday, we estimate there’ll be about 800 to 1,000 pieces that we do.”

The festival continues from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, and people can paint pots until 8 p.m.,

or until they last.

 

“Every year we sell out unless we have … rain every day. We’ve only done five or six Sundays,” he said, even though the festival is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. “I would say this is probably one of the most popular venues because it extends from children to adults. As you can see, we have a whole variety of age groups working.”

Pottery process

Rosebrook, his apprentices and students begin preparing for the festival several months in advance, throwing and firing nearly 3,000 pots and mixing up the three different glazes, which are made of all-natural minerals.

The cobalt glaze looks pale purple as it goes on but turns blue on the finished container. The dark green glaze is made of chrome oxide and stays green after the pot is fired. The copper glaze starts out light green and then turns the familiar metallic hue.

The painted pots are placed in one of four kilns heated to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit so the glazes can mature. Rosebrook and his assistants then transfer the vessels to reduction chambers, or metal trashcans filled with newspapers. The papers aren’t set on fire, though the hot pots sometimes ignite them.

 

“What that does is help reduce the oxygen,” said Rosebrook, who operates a similar booth annually at Arts Festival Oklahoma at Oklahoma City Community College.  “It changes the atmosphere … and that helps enrich and change all the colors.”

After five to 10 minutes, the final step is a plunge in a cold water bath. Coded numbers on the bottoms of the vessels allow the 75 or so volunteers to match festival-goers with their particular pots.

“With the kids, it’s fun seeing their faces,” said Tom Taylor, who was serving Friday as the area’s volunteer co-chairman. “They’re in awe that they created something. I heard one kid say today, ‘I did that!’”

Family tradition

“We’ve noticed this year generations of people who come here,” Rosebrook said. “They come

here to do that pot and they’ve gotta get that pot done.”

 

It’s even a family affair for the potter: His mother collects newspapers throughout the year, his wife Rita works the booth and their two children, son Loren, 21, and daughter Cana, 16, grew up painting pots and now help out.

The Pottery Place is the first stop at the festival every year for Christa Martin, 13, of Mustang, who still has a pot she decorated at age 7.

“I’m kind of artistic, so I like the colors and I like the painting,” she said, dabbing paint on a new pot. “It’s like my favorite part.”

“They’re neat when they come out, they’re all different,” added her dad, Rex Martin. “It’s pretty unique.”

Like the Nelson children, Tara Chappell and Tiffany Forrest of Choctaw visited the Pottery Place for the first time Friday. The 32-year-olds weren’t about to let the kids have all the hands-on fun.

“We’re big kids and we wanted something to do, too. We looked for the sand art, but I think we’re too old for that. They put an age limit on it,” Chappell said with a laugh. “So, this is pretty cool … and it’ll be a neat little souvenir.”

2011 Festival of the Arts

Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. today and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Where: In Festival Plaza, around Stage Center, on Hudson Avenue and at the revamped Myriad Botanical Gardens, which are about 70 percent complete after a year of major renovations.

 

Admission: Festival admission is free. Crystal Bridge admission is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors 62 and older or teens 13-18, $3 for children 3-12. Children younger than 3 are admitted free.

Parking: Paid parking is available in lots and garages throughout downtown. There is limited street parking around the perimeter of the event. Paid parking will be available at the City Center East Garage, 100 N Harvey, as well as the parking lot on Reno between Robinson and Walker. Devon is donating the use of its parking garage north of the festival on April 30 and May 1; parking will be $5, with all proceeds going to the Arts Council of Oklahoma City. For more on parking, go to www.parkingokc.com.

Road closures: Hudson will be closed between Sheridan and Reno for the festival. Sheridan will be closed to vehicle traffic but open to pedestrians between the Myriad Gardens and the Devon Tower construction. Reno is fully open from E.K. Gaylord to Dewey; two northbound lanes of Walker are open in the area; and one lane each way, north and south, is open on Robinson between Sheridan and Reno. For more on road closures, go to www.okc.gov/project180.

Information: 270-4848 or www.artscouncilokc.com.

-BAM

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What to do in Oklahoma on April 30, 2011: Hear Kinky Friedman at the Blue Door

 

Today’s featured event:

Hear humorist and singer-songwriter Kinky Friedman at 8 p.m. today at the Blue Door, 2805 N McKinley. Information: 524-0738 or www.bluedoorokc.com.

For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.

-BAM

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Best Bets for April 29-May 1, 2011: Check out the Festival of the Arts, hear Jane Monheit, listen to Kinky Friedman

Here are my picks for the top 5 events in Oklahoma this weekend. For more options, go to www.wimgo.com:

1. Celebrate the arrival of spring and the visual, performing and culinary arts at the annual Festival of the Arts from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. today and Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday at the Festival Plaza, around Stage Center, on Hudson Avenue and at the revamped Myriad Botanical Gardens in downtown Oklahoma City. Information: 270-4848 or www.artscouncilokc.com.

2. Hear humorist and singer-songwriter Kinky Friedman at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Blue Door, 2805 N McKinley. Information: 524-0738 or www.bluedoorokc.com.

3. Listen to retro jazz vocalist Jane Monheit sing with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic at 8 p.m. today and Saturday at the Civic Center, 201 N Walker. And hear the philharmonic play its “Salute to Superheroes,” a favorite program in its family-friendly Discovery series, at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Civic Center. Information: 842-5387 or www.okcphilharmonic.org.

4. NORMAN — Help a good cause at Music for Meals at 4 p.m. Sunday at The Brewhouse, 110 W Main. A benefit show for the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, the event will feature live music by Built for Speed, Chain Gang, Samurai Conquistadors and The Upstarts. Information: 321-2739 or www.brewhousemusic.com.

5. STILLWATER — Hear Eli Young Band, Randy Rogers Band, Charlie Robison and more as the 20th annual Calf Fry continues tonight and Saturday at Tumbleweed Dance Hall, Lakeview and Country Club roads. Information: www.calffry.com.

-BAM

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Tickets for Katy Perry’s Tulsa show on sale Saturday morning.

TULSA — Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday April 30 for pop star Katy Perry’s fall tour stop at the BOK Center.

Perry announced last week the addition of eight new U.S. dates on her “California Dreams Tour,” including a Sept. 17 show at the Tulsa arena. It will be her first concert at the BOK Center and her only appearance in the area. Janelle Monae and DJ Skeet Skeet will open the show.

Ticket prices are set at $39.50 and $49.50. Starting Saturday, they will be available online at www.bokcenter.com, at Arby’s Box Office, at all Tickets.com outlets, or by calling (866) 726-5287.

“E.T.,” the fourth single off Perry’s Grammy-nominated album “Teenage Dream,” recently reached the top position on Billboard’s Pop Songs chart. With that achievement, Perry’s 2010 sophomore effort became just the third album in the 18-year history of the chart to yield a quartet of chart-toppers. The song follows “California Gurls,” featuring Snoop Dogg, the title cut and “Firework” to the top of the Nielsen BDS-based mainstream top 40 radio airplay ranking, according to a news release.

The epic science-fiction music video for “E.T.,” directed by Floria Sigismondi and featuring Kanye West, premiered two weeks ago and has notched more than 24 million views.

The daughter of two pastors, Perry, who was born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson, initially embarked on a career as Christian singer Katy Hudson. But she later abandoned religious music, took a new stage name and made her pop debut with the 2008 album “One of the Boys.” After her debut single “UR So Gay” generated a minor splash and controversy, she broke out with the smash “I Kissed a Girl,” which topped the charts in 20 countries, according to AllMusic.com.

The summer North American leg of Perry’s “California Dreams Tour” kicks off Stateside on June 7 in Atlanta and runs through Aug. 14 with two shows in her hometown of Santa Barbara, Calif., before embarking on the newly added fall dates. Perry, 26, recently wrapped a series of sold-out dates in the U.K. and is preparing for sold-out shows in Australia, New Zealand and Japan in May.

Monae earned a pair of Grammy nominations and spots on several 2010 best-of lists with her fantastical full-length debut album “The ArchAndroid.” On the album, Monae, a pompadoured sci-fi fanatic, mashed up funky R&B, prog-rock, synth pop and classical music to bring to sonic life her alter ego, Cindi Mayweather, a time-traveling android messiah tasked with saving an alternate universe based on Fritz Lang’s 1927 silent film “Metropolis.”

For more information, go to www.katyperry.com.

-BAM

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Moody Blues still experiencing success, playing 3 Oklahoma shows

For instance, the British rockers’ signature ballad, “Nights in White Satin,” is seemingly “never reaching the end” of its dramatic appeal.

The legendary hit, from the group’s landmark 1967 album “Days of Future Passed,” recently landed at No. 2 on the UK Rock Chart and No. 27 on the BBC Radio 1 chart, marking the fourth time that “Nights in White Satin” has charted in its more than 40-year-history.

“It’s really nice because it was made and sung originally from the heart, and if people can recognize that in it, that’s a wonderful thing to share, really,” said Moody Blues guitarist/singer/songwriter Justin Hayward in a recent phone interview from his home in Monaco.

The band — Hayward, bassist/singer John Lodge and drummer Graeme Edge — launched their 2011 U.S. tour earlier this week in New Orleans. They are playing three shows in Oklahoma: Saturday at Thackerville’s WinStar World Casino, Tuesday at Tulsa’s Brady Theater and Wednesday at Concho’s Lucky Star Casino.

Hayward, 64, said The Moodies, as the rockers are sometimes affectionately known, typically attract multi-generational audiences.

“We’re very lucky to have a real cross-section of people, and (there are) a lot of very young kids as well that we get mail from who are just discovering the music,” he said.

“I always tend to think that ‘oh, well, people have forgotten all about that.’ But still it turns up, and it seems new generations discover this music. We’re very fortunate that radio has always been open to us and we’ve had that kind of material,” he added.

“But I think the Moodies is based on songs and the strength of those songs instead of a sound or an image — I mean, we didn’t even have an image right at the beginning and we didn’t do any press or anything like that in the early years — we just relied on our music. It’s very rewarding and very gratifying.”

Hayward has penned many of The Moody Blues famed hits, including “Tuesday Afternoon,” “Your Wildest Dreams,” “I Know You’re Out There Somewhere,” and, yes, “Nights in White Satin.”

“I’ve always been very selfish in my writing and what I record. And that makes me wrong more times than I’m right, really, about what other people will empathize with,” he said. “I’m just doing things that I want to do and hope that other people can share (in it). Because I think that’s the kind of duty that I have really: I’ve got to please myself first. So I’ve always trusted my own judgment there.”

He noted that his strategy has yielded many failures to go along with the successes.

“We did an album (in 1969) called ‘To Our Children’s Children’s Children,’ which was the first album on our own label, and we recorded a song on that called ‘Watching and Waiting.’ And when we recorded it, we all had a shiver up the spine and we said, ‘This is gonna be like a No. 1 song,’ and we put it out and it sold about 10 copies — and my mum bought half of those,” he said with a laugh. “So you never know, but you just gotta truck on trusting your own judgment and do what you think is right and then it will be fulfilling.”

Still, the triumphs clearly outweigh the missteps: The Moodies have sold more than 70 million albums and earned 14 platinum and gold certifications.

The resurgence of “Nights in White Satin” can be traced to the British reality TV series “The X Factor.” Matt Cardle, who went on to win the seventh season of the singing contest, belted the passionate ballad on the show and said he hoped his rendition would bring attention to the “very forgotten song.” Hayward was on tour in Dublin when Cardle’s performance aired around Christmastime.

“Suddenly my phone lit up, and I thought, ‘I’ve never had so many bloody texts,’ and I opened it all and they said, ‘Oh you must see this, it was brilliant,’” he said. “They get that stuff up on YouTube so quickly, and by the time I got to the hotel, his performance was up. … He did a great version. He did it faithfully, he did it really, really well.”

Fans also can expect The Moodies to faithfully perform their symphonic rock smashes, too.

“We’re faithful to the original arrangements ‘cause that’s when the songs work best, if you do them the way they were originally intended. We want to do the songs as we felt them and as they excited us at the time of the recording,” he said, adding the band is working on new music but waiting to release any new albums until they can ensure they will get the right label support.

“We’re very lucky. We could work almost every night of the year. We’re probably offered more work now than we were in the ‘60s and ‘70s. It’s remarkable,” he said. “But it’s a good time for bands who can play live, and that was always our thing … and now here we are, it’s still happening for us.”

In concert

The Moody Blues

When: 8 p.m. Saturday.

Where: WinStar World Casino, Interstate 35, Exit 1., Thackerville.

Information: (800) 622-6317 or www.winstarworldcasino.com.

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Where: Brady Theater, 105 W Brady, Tulsa.

Information: (918) 582-7239 or www.bradytheater.com.

When: 8 p.m. Wednesday.

Where: Lucky Star Casino, 7777 N U.S. 81, Concho.

Information: 262-7612 or www.luckystarcasino.org.

-BAM

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Movie review: “Fast Five”

Elaborate and excessive to the extreme, the fifth film in “The Fast and the Furious” franchise not only mashes up the physics-defying street-racing action of its predecessors with a daring heist scheme but also casts Dwayne Johnson as a foil to Vin Diesel’s antihero Dominic Toretto.

Guilty pleasure seekers will find plenty to relish, as director Justin Lin revs up the story with a fleet of careening and crashing vehicles, a bevy of scantily clad women and beefy bad boys and a reunion of intriguing supporting characters from other films in the series.

But with a more than two-hour runtime, “Fast Five” proves the cinematic equivalent of scarfing a gallon of triple-chocolate ice cream laced with Pop Rocks, and the movie may well induce a headache, upset stomach and should-have-known-better feeling.

“Fast Five” picks up right where the fourth installment, 2009’s “Fast & Furious,” left off, with former federal agent Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) and his girlfriend Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster) pulling off a spectacular and absolutely implausible assault on the prison bus transporting her brother Dom, a gifted street racer and criminal with a heart of gold.

Now fugitives, Brian and Mia flee to Rio de Janeiro expecting to reunite with Dom, but his pal Vince (Matt Schulze) has not heard from him in weeks. Vince had hoped to recruit Dom for a job stealing high-end cars from a freight train, and since they are strapped for cash, Brian and Mia take her brother’s place on the crew.

The job goes bad, but Dom arrives at the last minute to help Mia escape with the most coveted of the cars, a Ford GT40. The Drug Enforcement Administration agents who seized the cars are killed in the crossfire, and Dom and Brian are captured by Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida), the Brazilian crime kingpin who set up the job and desperately wants something in the GT40.

Blamed for the deaths of the DEA agents, Dom and Brian are bumped to the top of the most-wanted list. Tough-as-nails Diplomatic Security Service agent Luke Hobbs (Johnson) arrives in Rio with his crack team of fugitive apprehension specialists, and he also recruits inexperienced but straight-arrow local cop Elena Neves (Elsa Pataky) as his team’s translator.

Dom and Brian give Reyes’ goons the slip, disassemble the muscle car and find a computer chip containing details of the drug lord’s $100 million money-laundering network. Not only could that much money buy the fugitives a new life, it also would allow them to take down Reyes.

They enlist some of their best pals and fan favorites from the franchise to travel to Brazil and help with the heist. The players include Brian’s fast-talking friend Roman (Tyrese Gibson), tech-savvy hustler Tej (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges), recon expert and wheelman Han (Sung Kang), weapons specialist and all-around tough cookie Gisele (Gal Gadot), and bickering explosives authorities Leo (Tego Calderón) and Santos (Don Omar).

As the eclectic international team plots the complicated heist, the chemistry among the secondary characters provides a welcome break from all the crash-bang action and sfrom the wooden acting by Walker, Diesel and Johnson, whose performances range from barely passable to downright painful. But the bone-jarring face-off between Diesel and Johnson lives up to expectations.

“Fast Five” runs on too long, crams in too many races and follows the usual heist movie course a little too closely. But amid the bombastic action set pieces, the sequel, which won’t be the last installment in the series, also takes a few audacious curves, including a surprising stinger worth waiting out the credits.

— BAM

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Movie review: “Of Gods and Men”

The contrast between heartfelt faith and violent extremism is drawn with quiet might in the acclaimed French drama “Of Gods and Men.”

Set in North Africa in the 1990s, the film is loosely based on the lives of the Cistercian monks of Tibhirine, Algeria, who were kidnapped by Islamic terrorists in 1996. In an apparent effort to emphasize the movie’s universality, writer-director Xavier Beauvois keeps the time and place largely concealed. For those unfamiliar with the story, this strategy may leave them confused as the film unfolds.

The drama chronicles the lives of eight French monks dwelling in harmony with the Muslim villagers who reside just outside their humble monastery. The Christians are a beloved and well-established part of the community, providing medical care to the sick, counseling young and old alike and accepting invitations to Islamic rituals. In their discussions with local elders — the movie is in French and Arabic with English subtitles — the monks learn that Islamic fundamentalists have begun wreaking havoc in the region, and it is an ominous sign of what’s to come.

When the armed extremists mercilessly slay a group of Croatian workers, fear seizes the monks and townsfolk alike. It isn’t long before the terrorists darken the door of the monastery, demanding medicine for their injured fighters. Brother Christian (Lambert Wilson), the monks’ elected leader, calmly and firmly stands up to the gunmen.

The threat of violence casts a pall over the once-peaceful place of worship. The monks refuse military protection, as the soldiers’ cruelty is nearly as frightening as the terrorists’ viciousness.

The brothers debate whether they should flee the monastery, which is what the corrupt government wants, or stay and continue to minister to the villagers, even if it means becoming a pawn in the fundamentalists’ deadly mission. Their aged doctor, Brother Luc (Michael Lonsdale) calmly refuses to abandon their flock, while Brother Christophe (Olivier Rabourdin) struggles mightily with his dread of dying. The exploration of that crossroads of faith and fear provides some of the film’s most compelling drama.

Filming on location at a former monastery in Morocco, Beauvois effectively contrasts the austere serenity of the monks’ lives, from their prayers and chants to their gardens and nature walks, with the tumultuous bloodshed favored by the terrorists. He builds the dichotomy and tension with deliberate restraint, but he taxes viewers’ patience by allowing the first half of the story to drag.

Still, “Of Gods and Men” resonates with quiet power, whether it is lingering on the brothers’ faces as they listen to Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” at the dinner table or soaring above the ruggedly beautiful Moroccan countryside.

— BAM

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