La vallée de la paix

A Slovak boy lost in daydreams, a remarkably intelligent German girl fluent in two languages, and a Black American pilot who enlisted and found himself in Europe, conversant in German.

"Dolina Miru" tells the story of how these three disparate individuals are, in fact, more alike than they appear. It unfolds as a kind of road movie.

While the character of Sgt. Jim, played by John Kitzmiller, occasionally resembles a stereotype plucked from the pages of a Mark Twain novel, this might be attributed to the era in which the film was made. Indeed, Kitzmiller even received an award for this role at the Cannes Film Festival.

Screened in the Cannes Classics section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, and subsequently restored from its original 35mm format, this film is a cinematic treasure that remains sadly underrated.

With dialogue that sometimes seamlessly blends Slovenian, German, and English, I would also recommend this film to those who wish to give their ears a truly cosmopolitan workout.