AFFLICTION, written and directed by Paul Schrader. Based on the novel by Russell Banks. Running time: 114 minutes. Rated R (for violence and language). Nightly, March 15-18, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville.

Paul Schrader’s outstanding film “Affliction” features Nick Nolte in an Academy Award-nominated performance that ranks not only as the best of his career, but as the best performance by a lead actor in 1998.

That’s no small statement when you consider the four men Nolte is up against for Best Actor at this Sunday’s Academy Awards: Ian McKellen in “Gods and Monsters,” Tom Hanks in “Saving Private Ryan,” Roberto Benigni in “Life is Beautiful” and Edward Norton in “American History X.”

Still, as good as these men are as actors and as strong as they were in their nominated roles, Nolte eclipses them. So superb is he as Wade Whitehouse, so haunting and humbling and absolutely right for this complex role, it seems unthinkable that he won’t win for Best Actor.

This critic is betting he will.

Based on the 1989 novel by Russell Banks (whose “The Sweet Hereafter” found a different kind of tragedy within a small, rural town), “Affliction” is the story of Wade Whitehouse, a divorced, middle-aged man whose dead-end life has hit its final barrier in the dead-end town of Lawford, N.H.

As his lined face, sad eyes, stooped posture and shuffling gate convey, Wade knows a thing or two about disappointment: His ex-wife (Mary Beth Hurt) hates him, his daughter (Brigid Tierney) can barely stand to be in his presence, he is dating a woman (Sissy Spacek) fearful of his unpredictable rages, and he has seen all of his hopes and dreams for a promising future fade into ruin.

But Wade’s troubles didn’t begin in middle age; they began at birth. The product of a fiercely abusive, alcoholic father (James Coburn, equally brilliant and disturbing in an Academy Award-nominated role for Best Supporting Actor), he and his brother, Rolfe (Willem Dafoe), now must deal with the legacy of violence that’s literally and ferociously been pounded into them.

And then something remarkable happens, a glimmer of hope steeped in sudden death: In the snowy woods of Lawford, a wealthy, powerful man dies as the result of a hunting accident. Wade questions the accident, believes it was murder, and knows that if he can somehow solve this possible murder, his life will take a better turn. Finally, he’ll grab the public respect he’s never had, perhaps reclaim his shattered self-esteem and, with any luck, even cast out the demons that have afflicted him since childhood.

Marked by the hard truth of its performances, the weight of its consequences, its gripping plot and its sharp insight into rural New England life, “Affliction” would have topped my Top 10 list for 1998 had the film arrived in Maine before now. It didn’t, but it’s here and if I could, I’d buy everyone reading this review a ticket to see it. This is the real thing, a film with universal themes that Maine people in particular will recognize and appreciate. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Grade: A+

Video of the week

What Dreams May Come, directed by Vincent Ward. Written by Ron Bass. Based upon the novel by Richard Matheson. Running time: 113 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for language).

Vincent Ward’s “What Dreams May Come” has two things going for it — its spectacular, Academy Award-nominated special effects and the fact that it ends. Not soon enough for this critic, though, as everything else about this ridiculous film — from its teary-eyed, sad-sack performances to its three-hanky script and its gross overdose of sentimentality — sends it sharply into nightmare.

The film stars Robin Williams as Chris Nielsen, a pediatrician who seems to be a magnet of bad luck. Not only have he and his wife, Annie (Annabella Sciorra), lost their family dog to that great hydrant in the sky but their two children have been killed in a car accident … which, after Annie suffers a nervous breakdown and is eventually recuperated by her husband’s formidable love, is precisely how Chris himself dies.

It’s all too much for Annie, who eventually commits suicide, but that casts her soul into eternal damnation, from which her devoted husband — now an angel — must save her. So, with the already dead Cuba Gooding Jr. as Chris’ guide to the otherworld, that brings this film’s death toll up to six. Sound like fun? You’ve been warned. This film gets a D — for the apparent death of Williams’ once formidable talent.

Grade: D

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear each Monday in the NEWS. Each week on WLBZ’s “News Center 5:30 Today,” he reviews current films (Tuesdays) and what’s new and worth renting at video stores (Thursdays).