Last night we watched a French Film from 1950 whose translated title is "Diary of a Country Priest." I found it hauntingly familiar to many of my own feelings. Actually it was kind of depressing, but it is striking how much closer it seems those on other shores are willing to look at the struggles of life without flinching.

Not that I'm against action films, etc. I like almost everything but gore, and a lot of times I'm looking precisely for an escape from "reality" and a happy "American" ending, a la Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and It's a Wonderful Life. There are masterpieces of every sort.

But I've been intentionally exploring films of worldwide repute over time, and also silent films. And I find myself moved in many of them by the simplicity of the cinematography. John Ford is reported to have said something to the effect that he never really liked a movie script, because it was so much dialogue, while films ought to convey as little as possible through words. I'm with him, and Ozu, and Bresson, and Bergman, and Kurosawa, etc. It seems the less the dialogue the more important the dialogue, in many cases.