The themes are a bit heavy for the slender plot, but the bleak coastal village is the ideal spot for pondering the spiritual desolation of modern times.

The film is a satire of Spain's religious institutions, portraying spiritual desolation and moral bankruptcy.

In contradistinction to consolation spiritual desolation may be of three kinds.

Two traditional consolations for this felt sense of spiritual desolation are the natural world and love.

I've already suggested that the spiritual desolation of the West probably has meaning and that that meaning might be advantageously explored.

What illuminates "Amadeus" as much as anything else is the playwright's passion for Mozart's work, expressed, indirectly, through Salieri's jealousy and spiritual desolation.

Like so many of the decisions of sixties planners, this cruel decision has brought both spiritual and physical desolation in its wake.

The film is an exploration of the anachronistic situation of institutionalized religion in contemporary Spanish society, portraying spiritual desolation and moral bankruptcy.

It's a vision of physical and spiritual desolation of near-Fellini proportions, scored, not inappropriately, by Mr. Wonder's "Livin' for the City."

Mr. Sheeler was looking for beauty, but what he found was a De Chirico-like spiritual desolation.