AFI FILM FEST: WEEK 2

L istings and commentary for Week 2 of the American Film Institute Film Festival of Los Angeles, which runs through March 26:

WEDNESDAY

“Weapons of the Spirit” (U.S.A./France, 1987, 7:30 p.m.). A different kind of Holocaust documentary: a thorough and heartwarming probe by Pierre Sauvage of how his birthplace--a small Christian village in south-central France--came to give refuge to 5,000 Jews (including the film maker’s parents) during World War II. The answer lies in the community’s enduring Huguenot heritage and the leadership of its courageous, ecumenical-spirited pastor. The film becomes a rare and stirring illustration of the power of religion to unite rather than divide people. Recommended.