I also loved this one, and I would give it an Oscar over "The Gladiator" which I found boring and sorely lacking in character development. I prefered "Chocolat" to "Traffic" which, although very well acted, gave me a headache with all of the cinema verite shots. I haven't seen "Crouching Tiger..." yet, but Keith said he prefered "Chocolat".

The thing that I liked most about "Chocolat" was that it had inherent goodness. It lacked cynicism that is so common in today's world. The characters were beautifully drawn, flaws and all. The film was shot well, scenes were taut. Definately one of my must see's.

I was a little bothered that the film was in English. I was expecting subtitles, and the printed words--a newspaper, a note, the title of the movie--were in French so I felt that the film should have been too. But that's not much of a problem, more a minor annoyance. If you haven't seen this one yet, do not wait for the video. It deserves to be seen on a BIG screen.