Day 20: "Diary of a Country Priest"

Director: Robert Bresson 1950
Bresson again (see Day 1), this time telling the bleak story of a young priest assigned to a parish in rural France. The priest is sickly, his parishioners don't like him and he has dark moments when he questions his faith. Clearly, this is not "Going My Way," but it is a profound, uncompromising study of one man's relationship with God--and the effect of that relationship on a handful of locals. Not an easy two hours, but well worth viewing. Bresson used non-professional actors. The result is an almost documentary quality that lends a purity to the director's spiritual approach to making movies.