When someone makes such a declaration, one that seems to leave no room for exceptions, they don’t really want to hear what I have to say. But here, in the anonymity of a non face-to-face exchange, I would like to say a few words in defense of films not presented in English.

“I don’t like to read at the movies.” That’s usually at the top of the “Why I don’t see” list. Poor vision is a legitimate obstacle to enjoying the extra effort of reading. And, I’ll concede that in older foreign language films, subtitles were sometimes poorly produced and so difficult to see. So what follows is directed at moviegoers with reasonable vision and concerns the high quality pictures of today and the past decade or so.

Reducing the experience of viewing a film to reading subtitles is a convenient argument. It covers a lot of ground. Yes, reading a few words is a bit more work than just sitting in the dark and letting the film wash over you. Dialogue is only one element of the soundtrack. Music, effects and silence also define the aural experience. I hope you didn’t miss Run Lola Run, a film that has a frenetic heartbeat of a soundtrack, because you didn’t want to read at the movies.

Reading subtitles isn’t like reading the instruction manual for operating a complicated piece of equipment. Much of life is just basic conversation; so is much of the dialogue in foreign language movies. You can’t equate reading with not having fun. I hope you didn’t miss Il Postino or Girl on the Bridge, two madly romantic films, because you feared that the story might be too complicated or philosophical.

But, movies are more than just sound. Excuse this next big duuuh: Movies are a visual medium. Dialogue, even in English-language pictures, is only one element of the experience. I hope you didn’t let a few subtitles keep you from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, a sublime adventure of movement, pictures, action and sound.

Of course, all of this fear of reading is just a technicality. It skirts the big issue. The big issue is the movies themselves. This may sound shocking but many foreign-language films are just as entertaining as American films. And, while I can be a big girl and admit that some foreign language films are so very foreign, language isn’t the primary barrier. I have to insist that there are many foreign films that are extremely accessible.

If you missed With a Friend Like Harry or The Closet, you missed two exceptionally engaging films, one a suspense crime drama and one a very funny comedy that skews political correctness. True, these particular films are so accessible they will be bought by Hollywood, watered down and remade. (I will admit that sometimes Hollywood improves foreign flicks. Much as I enjoyed Open Your Eyes in Spanish, I suspect that when it is released as Vanilla Sky, Cameron Crowe will have improved it.)

The best foreign language films — the best films period — tell us things about what it’s like to be human. Many do that with a sense of humor. A new film from Sweden, Together, is a perfect example. Though it is set in a commune in Sweden in the 70s, the pleasures and truths of Together are easily recognizable.

The characters in Together are from a very innocent time and place. They behave outrageously, and sometimes very foolishly. They are so earnestly trying to live in a righteous, honest way, but they are full of mistakes. Eavesdropping on that is both painful and inevitably amusing.

I don’t understand completely why the characters in Together are the way they are, but I recognize them as human. They are naïve, blundering and, though they hardly understand how and why, oh so safe. Earlier this

year, The Dish showed us the 70s in Australia, and Together shares that “what was life like if Vietnam wasn’t your war” quality. There is an adorable little boy named “Tet” in Together, and he knows he is named after an “offensive” without comprehending in the least what that really means.

The humor in Together comes from the clash of personalities, but it is very good-natured. Director Lukas Moodys-son (Show Me Love) treats his subjects with affection. Maybe its just my Norwegian ancestry showing. I identify with that Northern European Protestant, grumpy, guilt-based humor, of the Garrison Keillor Lake Wobegon variety, though modern Swedes do not have the puritanical streak that their descendents in North America live with, as Together abundantly demonstrates.

To say that you don’t go see foreign language films is, in some way, to say that the only pleasures worth knowing are those available in English. That just seems so very limiting, isolating and depressing. After September 11, I remember seeing pictures of people mourning in Stockholm. Watching Together, I thought that some of the Baby Boom-age folk holding candles in that crowd are the hippies from Together. Of course, I only know the fantasy slice of Swedish life from a movie, but it did make me feel better and make me laugh, which is definitely worth the trouble of having to read at the movies.