Barnabo of the Mountains

In the years after the Great War, high in the Dolomites, conflict rages between forest-rangers and gun-toting poachers. Enter soft-spoken Barnabo (Pauletti), a new ranger, whose nerve gives way during an operation to track down the gang that killed the station commander. Dismissed, the young man repairs to the solace of a peasant household, but when he receives a letter from his former superior, the call of the peaks and the chance to right old wrongs is too strong to resist. With its spare dialogue, meditative pacing and expressive use of Schubert's chamber music, this slow, rather beautiful piece is very much a European Art Movie writ large. You'll look elsewhere for snappy one-liners, but in its own way this mesmeric work has rare restorative powers. A gentle giant.