I enjoyed reading your reviews, guys.Thanks. A good film and yet, I find myself trying to put into words precisely why I like it less than the Cannes award and critical consensus indicate. Maybe the fact that only two characterizations are sufficiently developed: the monks played by Michael Lonsdale and Lambert Wilson (a Resnais regular). Maybe that the film pays no mind to the colonial aspect of the monks' presence (the actual Christian was a soldier during the Argelian War of Independence). Maybe the film just didn't ultimately give me enough to think about... just maybe. Glad I saw it, I mean it, but not enough there to intrigue me, or delight me, or challenge me like a great movie should.