The First Movie Rental this Year

The Human Stain was the first DVD to see this year.
Stunning portrayal of a man hiding his true self from the world, as if hiding from them means he isn't African American.
Sir Anthony Hopkins plays a man, his mothers Golden son, who can pass for white and does when enlisting in the Navy during WWII. He then explains he is Jewish to pass his curly hair and other physical attributes which are far less African American than the rest of his family.
He eventually shunes his family and anything else that might give his secret away.
He becomes a Dean of a college and Professor of literature when two of his students haven't attended class for five weeks.
He mentions how they are like spooks and the turmoil begins that he made a racist comment.
(I being a US Navy Retired Cryptologist, we were coined with this term and it was considered a nickname: I never knew of this term as racist, most likely because of my age.)
Nicole Kideman plays a 34 yr old janitor he becomes involved with and the story goes on...
Very moving and yet it makes me wonder if the book it was based on was as powerful as the movie.