The Tree of the Wooden Clogs (1978)

American society has become so secularized over the past 30 years that one finds it difficult to imagine what it would be like to be part of a culture in which everyone believed in God, looked for his design in the world and trusted religious authorities.

The Tree of the Wooden Clogs, one of the Vatican's top 45 films, is set 100 years ago among the Northern Italian peasantry who lived and worked in a deeply Catholic environment.

Using real people instead of actors, Writer-director Ermanno Olmi follows the fortunes of four families who reside together on a farmstead and makes us believe we're watching a documentary about the period rather than a theatrical melodrama. It's an effective technique.

We see that sincerity of religious belief is no protection from suffering.

The peasants' spirituality isn't idealized, and their practices often border on superstition.

But their faith is as real to them as the fields they till, and it sustains them in times of tragedy and joy.

Touch of Evil(1958)

This film noir masterpiece is currently being re-released in a re-edited version that's closer to the original intentions of its director, Orson Welles (Citizen Kane). It plunges us into a dark vortex of cruelty and corruption that's a visceral evocation of how evil operates in our psyches and in the world.

A Mexican narcotics agent named Mike Vargas (Charlton Heston) is honeymooning with his American wife, Susie (Janet Leigh), in an American border town when a car bomb kills one of the region's most prosperous citizens.

As the device was planted on the Mexican side, Vargas technically has some jurisdiction. But it exploded on the American side, giving effective control to famed local police detective Hank Quinlan (Welles), who quickly frames an innocent Mexican. Vargas struggles to see that justice is done and inevitably clashes with the corrupt Quinlan, who's a surprisingly sympathetic character.

Babe (1995)

Most animal movies use broad humor and contrived melodrama to tell their stories.

Babe emphasizes the psychological development and upbringing of its four-legged characters instead and creates a comic morality tale of wit and charm. It's an imaginative live-action fantasy in which all the animals can talk.

Australian farmer G. Hoggett (James Cromwell) and his wife (Magda Szubanski) raise sheep. Babe (voice of Christine Cavanaugh), a piglet won at a carnival, is raised by Hoggett's collies and develops a special talent for herding the sheep. He uses kindness and understanding instead of intimidation.

Rex the collie (voice of Hugo Weaving) and Duchess the cat (voice of Russie Taylor) are jealous and scheme to get the pig in trouble.

Eventually, each animal must learn to discard its prejudices about the others.

— John Prizer