Even though it's not the film I would have chosen to win Best Foreign Language Film in 2006, I must concede that if any film had to beat Pan's Labyrinth, I'm glad it was this one. It's a great, great movie.
This Argentinian film about a woman who discovers that her adoptive daughter may be the stolen child of a murdered counter-revolutionary is heavy but well worth watching. The lead performance by Norma Aleandro is absolutely extraordinary.
One of the best films of the last decade and arguably the most successful non-English film ever as far as the Oscars go. It received 10 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, which it totally should have won.
My favourite Fellini film (well, maybe tied with La Dolce Vita). It stars Giulietta Massina as Cabiria, a prostitute just trying to get by and live her life while faced with obstacles and tragedy at every turn. The film would be a great winner in pretty much any year.
When I first saw this movie a couple of years ago, it totally blew me away. It takes place during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia and involves the relationship between a Czech man and an old Jewish woman whose shop he's given ownership of. It starts out almost as a comedy (she's hard of hearing and totally doesn't get that he now legally owns her store because of Nazi rules) and then ends on a deeply dramatic tone as the Nazis start rounding up Jews. I honestly could not recommend this movie more, it's amazing.
4 comments:
So many great ones, where is one to begin?? My list might go like so...
RASHOMON
8 1/2
CINEMA PARADISO
ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER
THE SEA INSIDE
Wow I haven't even heard of The Shop on Main Street but it sounds excellent!
I think I'd have All About My Mother, Rashomon, The Lives of Others, and The Counterfeiters in my list, but honestly looking at the list of Best Picture Winners I haven't seen very many, or others I don't like very much.
@Mad Hatter: believe me, I had a hard time taking it down to 5. There are some WTF? choices in the Foreign Language winners history, but there's a lot of good ones, too.
@Alex: The Shop on Main Street is awesome. If you ever get a chance to see it, take it!
I agree with Mad Hatter -- "The Sea Inside" deserves a place on any great foreign films list, as does "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days." Alex makes a good call as well with Pedro Almodovar's "Todo Sobre Mi Madre." I also think "Show Me Love," a Swedish coming-of-age film, is very good.
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