dialects in film

[Sally O. Donlon]

Meryl Streep did a fabulous job of some regional Polish dialect in
"Sophie's Choice."

I didn't notice it so much at the time because I had no real frame of
reference. However, several years later I found myself in a pitch black
elevator shaft and descending I-don't-know-how-many-hundred-feet to
view these incredible carved caverns in an old salt mine in Poland. The
darkness was so deep I literally [used literally] could not see my hand
in front of my face when I held it up to test the old colloquialism.
Suddenly, Meryl Streep's "Sophie" rushed into my consciousness. I saw
her as I could not see my hand. The trigger: the local tour guide, a
young woman whose disembodied voice was exactly the same one I had
heard years ago coming from Meryl Streep.

The odd thing is that I hadn't noticed it earlier in the visit.
Presumably because other sensory input had distracted me. But, in the
deep darkness, the mental representation was triggered by the single
sensory input of the tour guide's voice.

sod