Film is real. It can be held. It is a chemical record of an energy state influenced by a physical world. It's a massive representation of a massless quanta. It's simply complicated in it's processes. It's predictably unpredictable in it's results. It's the logical contradiction of capturing an event with extreme accuracy from only a single perspective. It incorporates elements of physics, chemistry, art, history and philosophy. It takes more than a lifetime to master, yet can still be supremely executed by a complete neophyte. The most skillful master knows how large of a role luck plays into it all. Yet even a novice knows that the importance of skill is undeniable. The contradictions are too beautiful not to fall in love with!
Digital's great. It's the reliable workhorse. It goes where you tell it. But film is the wild stallion. It takes you along for the ride. You can never truly control film. But if you work hard enough at it, and find luck to be on your side, you can believe for a brief moment that you've achieved the impossible feat of controlling the uncontrollable and catch a brief glimpse of what the gods must feel. And that's a feeling I don't believe digital will ever be suited to render.