A movie marathon.

For the past week, I've been enjoying the European Union Foreign Film Festival here in Chiang Mai. Last Saturday, my friend Andi and I saw three in a row. At about $2 USD apiece, movies in Thailand are a real bargain. They were all in their original language with subtitles in English, so most of the moviegoers were "farang" (foreigners).

So far, I've seen films from Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, France and the UK. Some have been hits and other were misses. My favorites were the films from the Netherlands ("Antonia's Line" - won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 1996), Sweden ("The Queen of Sheba's Pearls - wonderful), and the UK ("The Last King of Scotland" - Academy Award for Best Actor in 2006).

I especially enjoyed seeing "The Last King of Scotland" again. It tells the story of Idi Amin, a former president of Uganda. It is horrifying, disturbing and frightening, but I think the movie, especially the ending, says something beautiful and true about undeserved grace. Looking at it from a Christian perspective, I was very moved. Watch it and you'll see what I mean!

So I have sufficiently "cultured" myself this week. Horray.