My Dinner With Andre (VHS)

When I first saw My Dinner with Andre, I didn't like it. It was the opposite of what I thought a movie should be. It seemed to be all talk and little action or movement (the formula for pure cinema is just the opposite). However, something about it stuck with me, and I was lucky enough to catch it again. The second viewing of this film really paid off. I had my bearings and could follow the conversation as it flows back and forth from the transcendental and almost mystical explorations of Andre to the simple, practical, everyday appreciations of Wally. It suddenly occured to me that what was happening was much more than just an unusual dinner conversation--it was a back and forth between the two great viewpoints of life. There is something wonderfully exciting and courageous about Andre's search for the truth and reality of things as he travels to mountains amd deserts to find it. But there is equally something as exciting and brilliant in Wally's ability to see the miracle of a quiet evening at home (even reading the autobiography of Charlton Heston) or doing his errands and crossing them off the list. Both men are wonderful, and one realizes that this is not just a lot of talk and no action; as with many great artworks, everything is going on just under the surface--all the action is in the realm of ideas, not in physical motion. At the end, like Wally, we come away from the dinner with Andre quite changed for the better. Somehow the world is a little more beautiful, a little more alive, and we are a little more able to see its beauty and appreciate the miracle of it all.