First Pick: Broken Flowers charts the quest of a middle-aged burnt-out man who is led unwillingly to a place where he can get in touch with his long suppressed feelings.

More cinematic depictions of questing:

• A tender and poignant cross-cultural tale of a young man's search for his father with a finale filled with grace and love and humility. (The Beautiful Country)

• A valentine to the charms of Iceland and a flinty meditation on a young man's quest to bestow a blessing on his parents. (Cold Fever)

• A universal quest story about the yearning for hope and home that enables two lovers to deal with the harrowing menace and senseless violence of war. (Cold Mountain)

• A lively documentary about one woman's quest to explore her Hasidic roots; it mixes fact, emotion, and religious tradition with the spiritual practice of questing. and the enjoyment of simple pleasures. (Divan)

• An engaging documentary about the bone-chilling struggle for survival of an English explorer and his crew of 27 men in the disastrous 1914 Antarctic expedition. (The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition)

• A seventy year old man from New York City travels across the country and discovers the joy, the confusion and the stoutness of the human adventure. (Harry & Tonto)

• A cross-cultural gem that is spiked with superb performances, colorful characters, and one of the great closing sequences in recent memory. (Hideous Kinky)

• The space adventures of a dapper young Englishman who learns to treasure his towel, to leap at love when the opportunity arises, and to never rest on his laurels as a member of the human race. (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

• An incredibly moving film directed by Michael Winterbottom about two young Afghan refugees struggling to survive a harrowing overland journey to London in search of a better life. (In This World)

• An extraordinary documentary about an unusual man whose questing spirit is a marvel to behold. (2729 Keep the River on Your Right)

• An old-fashioned tale about the real life quest of a small Indiana community to come alive again. (Madison)

• The adventures of an elderly Kurdish musician and his two grown sons on a mission of mercy in Iraq's danger zones and refugee camps. (Marooned in Iraq)

• Filmed in the mountain ranges and deserts of Afghanistan, this fascinating drama transports us to a strange and exotic world of spiritual adventurism. (Meetings with Remarkable Men)

• An unusual quest movie that celebrates the virtues of family solidarity on the road and the enjoyment of simple pleasures. (The Middle of the World)

• The story of two expeditions during the nineteenth century to discover the source of the Nile. (Mountains of the Moon)

• A heart-affecting documentary about identifying the last victim of a suicide bomber attack outside Tel Aviv, a quest that demonstrates the filmmaker's reverence for all human beings. (No. 17)

• A zany and hilarious bluegrass version of Homer's Odyssey set in the South during the Depression where three escaped convicts go in search of one treasure and find another they didn't expect. (O Brother, Where Art Thou?)

• It will lift your spirit and make you feel good about all those who pursue their dreams in the face of large obstacles. (October Sky)

• A literary riddle that each person is challenged to decipher in light of his or her own perception of human passion and prejudice. (A Passage to India)

• An Australian spiritual adventure story about three courageous Aboriginal girls and their yearning to return home. (Rabbit-Proof Fence)

• A robust story of an underdog horse and three nobodies who join him in a quest that turns into an adventure for the whole country. (Seabiscuit)

• An extraordinary documentary by Ross McElwee that mixes American history, a romantic quest, and the search for meaning in the early 1980s. (Sherman's March)

• A witty and heart-warming animated questing comedy about some lovable losers who prove that inner beauty is the true asset in a world where quick judgments all too often cause untold pain. (Shrek)

• Lucas has fashioned a fascinating pluriverse of outer space works filled with strange and amazing creatures and special effects. (Star Wars Episode I)

• An extraordinary questing documentary that is both a lively and an illuminating tribute to the wonderful world of books. (Stone Reader)

• Tailor-made for our era of celebrity spectacles, theme parks, and the incursion of pop culture into all aspects of our lives. (The Truman Show)

• A visionary questing film of deep play that is stylistically innovative in its animation and spiritually rich in content. (Waking Life)

• Proves that we are most alive when asking questions which usually turn out to be allies on our spiritual journeys. (Wide Awake)

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