"How Green Was My Valley" (1941)

If a rating of 10 meant that a movie was completely overwhelming, I think I would rate this movie a 9, or almost so--and I don't meant emotionally. Welsh movie--rather, it is set in Wales. About a Welsh mining family. Movie generates questions. At the start of the movie, and every so often throughout, I would ask Why was this movie made? Why did they decide to make this movie? Why this story? I don't know why I ask the question--I certainly don't typically ask it--but it was a question the movie begged. Black & white. Lots of visual detail. Lots of singing--I'm assuming the songs were in Welsh because I didn't understand any of them, but I recognized the melodies of several of the hymns since they are in our Lutheran hymnal. I wouldn't call the movie a musical. But I wouldn't not call it that either. Is there such thing as a narrative musical (as opposed to a singing musical)? That's a me-coined phrase, but it seems to fit. The lead character--a boy narrator--gives a call through the coal mines near the end--the kind of sound that sticks in your mind. It's a movie with lots to think about--but I'm hard pressed to come up with any more questions than what I've been able to formulate. It's a movie worth watching. I certainly liked it, and I have no idea why, but I'm okay with that, at least for now.