It's pointed out early in this well-intentioned documentary that each of us has two ears but only one mouth, so we damned well ought to recognize the importance of listening. With this principle in mind, four Americans are sent to 14 countries to discover the way the world perceives the land they call home. As expected, some harsh criticism is encountered, but much wit and wisdom are also uncovered as the interviewees speak candidly about their lives and how they view the USA from afar. In one of the most poignant scenes, a Palestinian man recounts an incident in which his life was threatened by an Israeli soldier to a young Israeli woman about to serve her required military term. It's an encouraging moment that demonstrates the level of understanding that could be achieved if we simply took the time to listen to one another's experiences.

*** out of four stars

San Francisco Zen priest and cookbook author Edward Espe Brown probably wouldn't make it on the Food Network. He's too calm and didactic, too likely to turn a breadmaking class into a commentary on the waste and hassle plaguing our microwave-dependent daily lives. German director Doris Dorrie's documentary follows Brown through tutorials at Zen retreats in California and Austria. He emerges as a gourmet spiritualist exploring the connections between how we feed ourselves and the state of our souls. Never far from a proverb, he's given to observations like "Working on food is working on yourself." Kneading dough requires patience and concentration; it gives our hands the opportunity "to be hands" and clears the mind. Diffuse and leisurely as a yoga breathing exercise, the film suffers from dangling digressions (Dorrie inexplicably includes a sidebar about Dumpster diving), but overall it's fine food for thought.

**½ out of four stars

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