Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

Last night we saw an old movie, that I had seen but my husband hadn't:  "I'll Be Seeing You".  It's set in the midwest during World War II.  Joseph Cotten plays a soldier on leave because of shell shock.  He meets a woman on a train, played by Ginger Rogers, who is visiting her aunt and uncle for the holidays.  He pretends he has a sister in the same town, and because it is Cotten, you are afraid he's a stalker.  (He always had an edge, see Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt)  Gradually her family invites him into their circle, and he spends Christmas and New Year's with them.  He confesses why he's home on leave:  he has been in a psychiatric hospital, and has no family, as he was raised in an orphanage.  She has her own secret, which she doesn't reveal:  she's out of prison for a ten day leave.  She has served half her sentence for manslaughter, three years, and has three more to go.  Her story is as raw as today's Me, too headlines.  Her niece, played by Shirley Temple, is a thoughtless teenager, and it is through her that we face our own prejudices and biases.  She carries this burden very well, and since it IS Shirley Temple, we are forced to identify at least somewhat with her.  Important issues are handled delicately and empathetically, and after the film is over, the viewer is haunted by them.