“The Graduate,” directed by Mike Nichols, written by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry, and based on the novel by Charles Webb. Running time: 105 minutes. Rated PG (brief nudity, language, adult content). Nightly, Oct. 27-30, at the Railroad Square Cinema in Waterville.

Looking back at the past 30 years of film, few compare with “The Graduate” when communicating all the anxiety, dark hilarity and overwhelming misery of one’s first sexual experience.

In 1967, just as the sexual revolution was nearing its bed-shaking peak, the supremely alienated and sexually naive Benjamin Braddock brought all of his angst, confusion and bumbling humanity to the screen. For Dustin Hoffman, it was a career-making performance that catapulted him into stardom and made him a ’60s icon. But for our culture, his evolving character defined two separate eras as he grew out of the repression of the past and into a man reflecting a more sexually free and aggressive time.

“The Graduate,” currently remastered and in rerelease for its 30th anniversary, is that rare film that has done more than simply hold up over the decades — indeed, it has actually become more relevant.

How so? Because today’s culture, steeped so heavily in sex, has instilled in our youth pressures that would have left Benjamin’s generation impotent. Not only do today’s young adults have to worry about performing the mechanics of sex, but they also have to contend with exposing their imperfect, naked bodies in a society that champions the god and goddess as aesthetic ideals.

It is this considerable baggage they bring with them to the theater when they first watch Benjamin slip beneath the sheets with Mrs. Robinson (played superbly by Anne Bancroft), the older woman who seduces him. Suddenly, younger audiences see themselves up on the screen, relating to Benjamin’s rambling awkwardness, understanding his trepidation and feeling the totality of his embarrassment.

Still, as relevant as “The Graduate” has remained, it is not a great film. Audiences were foooled into thinking it was important because of the way they reacted to it, not because director Nichols had anything profound to say. Great films, like great art, change the way we think, give us new perspectives, move us into a higher plane of understanding and thinking. “The Graduate” is fun, enjoyable entertainment on a lower plane. It is all the salt and all the grease in your favorite fast-food french fries.

Consider its main character. Does anyone really care about Benjamin Braddock? He is a dull, self-centered dolt who is going nowhere. He has nothing interesting to say or to offer. But we like him because of his naive charm.

We relate to him because we see in him ghosts of our younger selves. His faults rest in youth, which can be forgiven. Thus, when we watch him on screen, we have faith that he will emerge into a better and more interesting person that will represent all that we’ve become.

He just has to. Grade: B

Video of the Week

“Sling Blade,” written and directed by Billy Bob Thornton. Rated R (for language, violence, and adult content). Running time. 133 minutes.

In a masterstroke of good timing, raw talent and sheer luck, Billy Bob Thornton’s “Sling Blade” spoke to a world still eager to champion the simpleton. Winner of last year’s Academy Award for best original screenplay, Thornton’s film filled the gap in the wake of “Forrest Gump” by offering movie audiences another opportunity to celebrate the innocence of a quiet, unassuming man.

In this rich and deeply moving film, Thornton plays Karl Childers, a man released from an Arkansas mental institution 25 years after he committed two violent, bloody crimes. Now, having done his time, Karl is forced to face his freedom with enormous trepidation: how can he possibly survive in a world he knows so little about?

With the help of Frank (Lucas Black), a young boy he befriends by accident, the boy’s kind-hearted mother Linda (Natalie Canerday), and her gay friend Vaughan (John Ritter), Karl finds his way. But he also finds himself thrown in the middle of Linda’s abusive relationship with Doyle (Dwight Yoakam), a raging alcoholic who beats and threatens this family that Karl loves — and will protect at any cost.

With strong performances from all members of the cast, “Sling Blade” is a triumph of humanity over evil. It shakes us by stripping away the surface of our society and exposing the rotten marrow at its core. So rarely are these qualities brought to the screen, that when they do appear (as they did in “L.A. Confidential”) we must take notice. See this. Grade: A-

Christopher Smith of Brewer reviews films each Monday in the NEWS.