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STUDIO: Koch Lorber Films
MSRP: $26.98
RATED: Unrated
RUNNING TIME: 85 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
• Deleted Scenes
• Theatrical trailer

The Pitch

"Flip this House Denmark style."

The Humans

Sister Ambrosija, Jørgen Lauersen Vig

Directed by Pernille Rose Grønkjaer

The Nutshell

"50 years ago Jørgen Lauersen Vig bought Hesbjerg Castle, situated in the Danish country side, with the purpose of turning it into a monastery. Now, many years later, he is about to realize his old dream. A group of Russian Orthodox nuns are on their way, and thus Mr. Vigs life-long dream is about to come true. But, nuns have plans and wills of their own, and Mr. Vig must realize that the road to fulfilling his dream is very different than what he imagined."

The Lowdown

I have a neighbor who watches that Christian channel Trinity Broadcasting Network (what! you think I would admit to watching that channel?). While visiting a couple of years ago there was an incident on the channel that I'll never forget. The big haired woman was sitting next to Billy Graham's son and had just handed him a check for over $100,000 - says it was for his overseas charity work. She proceeds to tell the story of where the money came from and it involved a long time viewer who had recently died. This viewer, who was elderly, left everything to TBN and the woman's family was none to happy about this so they tried to fight it in court and subsequently lost the case. So here is big haired woman not only bragging about how they won a court case against a bereaved family but she is flashing around the money received from this case - might point out she was giving money to an organization who already have plenty of money at their disposal. Nothing uplifting about this story and what would have been nice was to hear big haired woman tell viewers that the property was either given back to the family or was donated to a local charity.

Enter Mr. Vig's story

Here was an 82 year old man who had a valuable piece of property and all he could think of was allowing a group who could turn the estate into not only a place of worship but a place where people could get help. Unlike big haired lady Mr. Vig never once thought of himself and even when the church offers to pay him rent he is somewhat annoyed at the thought of taking money. Watching Mr. Vig prepare for the nun's arrival and throughout the film at no time was there any hint that Mr. Vig had a greedy bone in his body. For me that was the most refreshing aspect of the film was to see someone just wanting to give to others with no anticipation of receiving anything in return.

As the saying goes about no good deed goes unpunished, Mr. Vig soon learns that there is more involved in handing over a castle to a group of nuns. To his dismay Mr. Vig has to contend with the fact that the castle needs a major overhaul and a few things the nuns are wanting to do with the property does not set right with Mr. Vig.

Answer below.

Enter Sister Ambrosija

A nun in her 50's who is as strong minded as they come and not the type to shy away from expressing her opinion. Yes she is grateful for Mr. Vig's offer but the reality of the situation forces her to be a bit more assertive in dealing with a man who is set in his ways and who feels slighted when any criticism is directed towards the condition of the property. Watching these two go at it was the highlight of the film and although at times I sided with Mr. Vig (at times it seemed as though Sister Ambrosija did not appreciate Vig's generous offer) I could also understand why Sister Ambrosija was not holding back her opinion on what needed to be done to the place.

Although the film focuses on Mr. Vig and Sister Ambrosija's disagreements there is ample time spent in allowing Mr. Vig to tell his life story. I felt this made for a well rounded documentary as this part of the story offered insight into why Mr. Vig decided to open up his home to the Orthodox church. Grønkjaer does an admirable job at conveying the two main characters personalities and I appreciate the fact that although this story happened over a period of time Grønkjaer was able to make the story flow seamlessly. The only thing I can complain about, just slightly mind you, is how Grønkjaer was trying to frame a love story between Vig and Sister Ambrosija when it is clear their relationship is nothing more than two people trying to work together to get the property suitable for a church.

The Monastery: Mr Vig & The Nun is an enjoyable documentary.

Mr. Vig's question above answered.

The Package

The extras are good enough as I was not expecting this sort of film to be stacked with Criterion collection type extras. The deleted scenes run for a few minutes and are just more bits showing the nuns having trouble starting a car and of Mr. Vig walking down a lane. The trailer is put together well and conveys the tone of the movie nicely.

8.0 out of 10