It is the lead trait of this profound beautiful film. The delicacy of a story about love and life and healing in deep sense. About hope. And about the other as part from yourself. The delicacy of performances. The delicacy of dialogues. It is a spiritual film but not in the sense you expects. It is support for reflection. And one of that small cinematographic gems with the status of gift.

I remember seeing this film back in 1980 when it was released, forgot about it until a few years back and purchased a copy before it wasn't available anymore like don't be afraid of the dark sally. This film always holds my attention. I find it very relaxing to watch. Its a simple movie. Simple as in how our lives were before computer and fax machines coffee and stress. Its the silence between each sentence that gets to me. You don't get that in todays movies there is always a noise, or music a flash or explosion. But in this movie its the silence between each actors lines that gets me. Great performances. I always wondered if it was adapted from a true story. Enjoy it if you get to see it. Don't expect the frills of todays movies. Its just a simple movie. Good acting.

No spoiler here, but when Esco Brown lays his hand on Edna's head as he gives her his admonitions when she has barely met him (fairly early in the film), could anyone be surprised that the end of the movie shows her in that same scenario, ministering to those who need it as they happen in to the "service" station? The postcard that was shown in the last scene left no doubt that there was a connection between Esco and Edna. The inscription: "Hi, Edna. I made it!" (referring to Esco's stated dream of visiting an exotic locale in South America.) He had no doubts, and it was a beautiful culmination for Esco's character. The name of the station..."Last Chance" was oxymoronic. Some commenters have cast aspersions on the Sam Shepard character (Cal) as being unnecessary. However, Burstyn's agnostic character fairly demanded a Bible quoting antagonist who was more connected to Edna Mae than his more vocal father character (Earl) could have ever been. Hence...Cal is integral to creating conflict in the plot because the disagreements between Edna and her father could not have realistically been developed to that same dramatic level.The most unbelievable scene (to me) was when the hemophiliac girl's mother allowed Edna to hold the girl and unexpectedly heal the nosebleed despite the doctor's pronouncement that the little girl needed immediate transportation to treatment. This anomaly could have been dealt with by a mere juxtaposition of the timing of dialog, but the effect was dramatic as they left it.Edna's gift? Where did it come from? She explained it as she saw it. She wasn't sure (hence my term "agnostic" in the first paragraph.) However, she consistently alluded to a "higher power" even though she couldn't or wouldn't ascribe a name to that power. All she would say is "I offer it to you in the name of Love." Is Esco's sign on the wall of the "Last Chance" ("God is love and versa vice") the theme of this movie? Hmmm.Obviously I loved this movie. A spiritual uplifting. Perhaps it didn't receive popular acclaim is because it deals with phenomena that many of us have not seen with our own eyes.Fiction? Maybe.

Ordinary woman, recently paralyzed in a car accident that left her husband dead, drives with her father through the California desert and meets a wily, warm old coot running a service station; he introduces her to his two-headed snake and then, without provocation, touches the top of her head affectionately. Soon thereafter, she finds she can heal the ailing--including herself--which frightens her distant father as well as the new man in her love-life. Occasionally overwrought or slow, "Resurrection" has a solid screenplay to fall back on, and a terrific actress in the leading role. Ellen Burstyn, feisty, flawed and fed up, creates a three-dimensional character here who often makes bad choices but never loses our respect. Fighting with her father for the last time, she tells him, "I am sick...to...death...of trying to get you to love me." Fine supporting performances by Eva Le Gallienne, Richard Farnsworth and Lois Smith, but Sam Shepherd isn't well cast as the new love-interest (he's supposed to be a sexy bad boy, but instead he just seems villainous, in a perpetual foul mood). The movie lays on the hick-charm a bit heavily (our heroine is Edna Mae, her grandmother is Grandma Pearl), but it has a great deal of heart and some very moving, sensitive moments. *** from ****