Zelary.2

Yes, it's true--seeing a movie again makes it look a whole new way, given all of your intervening experiences.

When I watched Zelary last time, certain things stuck out. This time, however, I was struck by how sad it is. How really, truly sad it is. I had evidently subconsciously turned it into a happy movie.

Zelary also does a really good job of capturing not only the wonderful, charming aspects of life in community, but also the dangerous, abusive, horrible aspects of it, too--the woman who leaves her husband for her father-in-law and has his child, and the town drunkard who beats his wife and child and tries to rape Hanulka.

The priest is an interesting character in the film--we never find out that much about him, but we get an idea of both his holiness and his secret pain or sin. We only get hints, though.

It is charming, too, the first time that Joza calls her Hanulka, the diminutive of her name. And it is sweet when he talks about getting sheep with her.