While director Wim Wenders was waiting to shoot a big project, he found himself with some spare time. He reportedly pulled together the script for Land of Plenty in three weeks, and shot the whole film in just over two weeks on digital video. The result is a thought-provoking film that touches on patriotism and paranoia in post 9/11 America.

Wenders, who is German, has applied his outsider's perspective to the concept of America several times, most notably in Paris, Texas. This time he puts his characters in the lowest income parts of Los Angeles.

Lana (Michelle Williams) has just arrived from living in Israel, and stays with a distant acquaintance who runs a homeless shelter. He gives a bit of a speech about the invisible America, where homelessness and hunger is rampant. The evidence is all around, and it clearly isn't staged for the camera.

Lana is looking for her uncle, so she can deliver a letter from her mother. The uncle has fallen out of touch with the family. Uncle Paul (John Diehl) at first seems to be working in government security. He drives a beat-up van and looks for suspicious people and abandoned packages in public places, recording his observations in official-sounding jargon. But after a few minutes it's clear that he is not a real agent. He is a Vietnam War veteran who has taken on the role out of a sense of patriotism. And he's not alone. A friend, Jimmy (Richard Edson), helps him out and occasionally feeds him information over the two-way radio.

Uncle Paul at first resists contact with his niece, but slowly his seeming undercover work draws them together. He sees potential conspiracy everywhere, zeroing in on a Middle Eastern man carrying large boxes of chemicals. Lana knows the same man as a patron of the food line at the homeless shelter.

The uncle and niece have radically different points of view. Uncle Paul wishes he had been on one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center so he could have fought back. He even argues that Vietnam was a victory for America in the Cold War. Lana is in daily e-mail contact with friends in Israel who support the Palestinians' efforts for a homeland.

Like many of Wenders' films. Land of Plenty eventually turns into a road film that takes Paul and Lana deep into the desert for part of their investigation. A semi-abandoned desert town adds another aspect of impoverished America, and provides an almost surreal backdrop for the few paltry answers the two finally get to the mystery they created.

The veteran who has become lost in his own mental space is a character type that has been overdone, although usually in violent action films. Diehl brings a note of sympathy to his depiction of Uncle Paul. The character has been suffering from Agent Orange exposure for 30 years, and Diehl makes the collected pain tangible. His efforts to help, while misguided, are heartfelt.

But this is really Lana's story. Williams brings both strength and a hint of fragility to her character, someone who is quick to embrace almost everybody and makes a sincere attempt to befriend some of the homeless people.