CLEARLAKE – Second Sunday Cinema's last free film for 2008 is a wonderful and critically acclaimed drama, “The Visitor.”

The film will be shown Sunday, Dec. 14.

This year has been a challenging one, to say the least, capped by an election season that seemed like it would never end. We all deserve a break, even if only for one evening. And for the diehards, there's plenty of information in this film, along with the heart-opening entertainment.

Walter Vale is an aging professor of economics in Connecticut without a perceptible heartbeat. His one class is recycled from year to year, his wife is dead, and he no longer can feel his own pain or that of others. Until – he meets a young couple under surprising circumstances. Tarek is a drummer from Syria; his girlfriend Zainab from Senegal makes and sells earrings. They are both illegal immigrants.

The spark these two strike in Walter's life falls on damp but – oh miracle! – still flammable tinder. The story line can be seen as very familiar.

But the other miracle in this film is that the marvelously fine acting, directing, music and editing create a transcendent film that will stay with you for a long time. And you will be glad. There is one musical scene (a drumming group in Central Park) that is so joyous you will have to get up and move. So do it!

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement – ICE – abruptly and very realistically intrudes. What follows forces us to see “illegal immigrants” from an intimate and compassionate perspective. And ICE suddenly seems to be a chillingly accurate acronym. Yet “The Visitor” left SSC Coordinator Shannon Tolson feeling an engaged and reality-based joi de vivre that is still with her.

“The Visitor” will be screened, for free as always, at the Clearlake United Methodist Church at 14521 Pearl Ave. in Clearlake on Dec. 14.

Doors open at 5:30 p.m. for socializing and snack and seat-grabbing. The film starts at 6 p.m. They hope to see you there.

For more information, call 279-2957.

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