"It was a struggle for me to choose just one Louis Malle film, so I chose two to count as one. This one is particularly exceptional, thanks in part to the amazing performance by Maurice Ronet. Pushed by Malle to lose forty pounds, Ronet gave a hard, hopeless portrayal of a despondent and suicidal man saying good-bye to his disdainful and shallow youth. Though he originally shot the film in color, Malle switched to black and white to more accurately depict the subject matter. Listening to the commentary, I learned that Malle used this film as a sort of exorcism for himself, feeling that he had already done everything at such a young age. Deeply personal, it was his favorite of his own films."

"An American man walks across Afghanistan by himself, equipped with nothing but a rucksack, a walking stick and an enormous Kurdish dog. Who hasn’t dreamed of setting off into the unknown? Of risking certain danger to explore the other side of the earth, both geographically and metaphorically? Few people have the guts to trek unarmed through hostile, war-torn foreign territory, relying upon the aid of often isolated, tribal communities, but the rewards of seeing a landscape from that personal and vulnerable perspective are manifold. It heartens the soul to believe that we can depend upon one another as human beings, that we can subsist upon such accessible and un-rarified values as family, hospitality and respect. Be prepared to cry, though."