LENT IS A TIME FOR serious movie-watching. Those ?bathrobe? films may not be that bad, but why not also watch movies meant to change people?s perspectives about socially relevant themes and historical significance, as well as to illustrate the power of faith and courage? Our picks:

?Sunflower.? This 1970 film dramatizes the search of newlywed, Giovanna (Sophia Loren), for her husband, Antonio (Marcelo Mastroianni), who fails to come home after he is sent to Russia at the end of World War II. There, she finds him living with another woman, who?s on the family way. The war has rendered him amnesiac, but when he sees his wife, he remembers her, then tries to win her back. Later, Giovanna remarries and bears a son whom she names after her first husband. The movie depicts how war tears a family apart.

?Kramer vs. Kramer? is about Ted and Joanna (Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep), an estranged couple who fights fiercely for custody of their only son. The film mirrors the cultural shift in the 1970s, when the radical feminist movement was rearing its head, as well as the difficulties faced by single parents.

?Gandhi? chronicles the life and times of Mahatma Gandhi (Ben Kingsley), India?s charismatic political and spiritual leader who pushed for nonviolent resistance against British colonial rule.

Union leader

?Sister Stella L.? tackles the sociopolitical ?awakening? of a nun (Vilma Santos). Her battle becomes personal after her journalist-friend (Jay Ilagan) is tortured, and a union leader (Tony Santos Sr.) is kidnapped and killed.

?Changeling? is based on real-life events in 1928 Los Angeles, where Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) is ?reunited? with her missing 9-year-old son?who turns out to be an impostor! She is later declared an unfit mother, and is committed to a mental institution. After she is released, she calls the media?s attention to the injustice committed against her.

Against all odds

?Love Story? is the story of Oliver (Ryan O?Neal) and Jennifer (Ali McGraw), who fall in love and marry against all odds. Soon, the couple finds out that Jenny has leukemia. No other romantic drama generated more hype in the 1970s than this film, whose unforgettable theme song was popularized by Andy Williams.

?Maynila Sa Mga Kuko Ng Liwanag? depicts the social malaise prevailing in Manila in the ?70s. It tells the tragic tale of Julio (Bembol Roco), a provinciano who ventures into the big city to look for his beloved Ligaya (Hilda Koronel), who, in search of greener pastures, has ended up selling her body in order to survive.