“I’m quite convinced that cooking is the only alternative to film making.”
So says Werner Herzog in Les Blank’s 1980 Documentary Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe, in which, you guessed it, the legendary Bavarian director eats his shoe. In case you haven’t come across this peculiar, yet hilarious (in a way only Herzog can be), little short, the film maker is making good on a bet in which he wagered that, should fellow Director Errol Morris finish the movie Gates of Heaven, Herzog would eat his shoe. And he does! With much talk about the benefits of eating leather and all the shoe related culinary arts.
Okay, so, wait a minute! Why the hell am I telling you about an obscure 1980 documentary in which a Bavarian film maker, whom you may or may not have heard of, eats some seasoned foot apparel? Well, if you have seen it, or at least heard of it, then I salute you good sir or madam, as you have really delved deep into the back story of one of the world’s finest film makers. If you haven’t heard of it (but if you are still reading, even after the paragraph exclusively about shoe food), well then, now you have. Whether this changes your life in any way, is yet to be known. I’m sure it won’t. In fact, I think you’ll probably click away at this point, never to return, wondering why the hell someone would watch such a bizarre movie. However, I’m hoping against hope that maybe you’re thrilled to have learned something about the history of movies, particularly about a foreign film maker who has made many of his movies in German. That’s the feeling I would get.
Foreign film is so often dismissed by general movie going audiences the same way in which a lot of classical music is: it’s pretentious to watch it, even more pretentious to talk about it, and is all “arty farty” and boring. Also, why would anyone want to watch anything with subtitles!? Well, I’m here to say that foreign film can be accessible, and it can be enjoyed by anyone. After all, all cinema has its roots in silent film, made by mostly French film makers, and when the first stories appeared in movies, the plot was portrayed on-screen with placards. So film has always been a primarily visual medium, which has the edge over writing in that anyone can watch a film in a foreign language and take something from it.
Furthermore, without world cinema, we would not have many of the amazing works of today. You can definitely kiss goodbye to Stanley Kubrick (and by extension: Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan, George Lucas and many more who have cited him as an influence), who drew influence from Federico Fellini and Ingmar Bergman. Oh, and there would certainly be no Tarantino, as he wouldn’t have any great foreign films to steal all his scenes from.
So, here I have compiled a list of my favourite films of world cinema (including one silent movie), which have stayed with me since I first saw them. The aim of this is to:
1) Share my favourites and to see if it compares to your own
2) If you haven’t seen any of them, then I hope it will help introduce you to a whole new world, the likes of which Alladin would be proud of.
Those of you who have seen some of the movies below will no doubt not want to hear all about them from some blogger who is by no means a world cinema expert, so I have only written a couple of paragraphs about why I chose each one. On top of this, I have added a trailer for each movie, in case you want to see what they’re all about. Some are more accessible than others, but I hope everyone finds something new. Any suggestions on anything you would put in your top ten, let me know! – S
10 – Nosferatu (1922)
Roger Ebert once said: “To watch F.W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu” is to see the vampire movie before it had really seen itself.” This silent film is the Dracula movie the world had before Bela Lugosi, Chrisopher Lee and many, many others introduced all the clichés and tropes which have now become tired parodies of themselves.
The effects are astounding for the time and the film can still send shivers down your spine, due to the excellent make-up work and the inherent spookiness of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which this is a close adaptation of.
9 – Seven Samurai (1954)
It would be a pretty exhausting job to compile a list of movies that have been inspired by Akira Kurosawa. You’d even have a tough time writing down all the films that were either remakes or direct nods to, arguably his finest movie, Seven Samurai.
This movie is a progenitor of war movies like The Dirty Dozen and The guns of Navarone, and even had a direct remake (two now!) with The Magnificent Seven. Seven Samurai along with The Hidden Fortress, another Kurosawa movie, even went on to inspire George Lucas when he set about making Star Wars.
Quintessential viewing for anyone interested in the history of cinema, especially the origin of many war, heist and action movies.
8 – The Hunt (2013)
Just how destructive can rumours be? Director Thomas Vinterberg asks this, and many other difficult to swallow questions, in The Hunt and he isn’t afraid to tackle these questions head on.
Mad Mikkelsen (known to English-speaking audiences for his brilliant Le Chiffre in Casino Royale, and the TV series Hannibal) is utterly convincing as a Danish teacher wrongly accused of just about the worst thing a male adult can be accused of – by an innocent, confused child no less. This movie is chilling and contemplative and it asks us to consider what we say before we say it.
7 – The Raid: Redemption (2012)
It’s so hard to find a Hollywood action nowadays that isn’t bogged down by an incoherent plot and ridiculous twists. Directed and written by Welsh director, Gareth Evans, The Raid is a well-paced, action driven, no frills action movie, which only takes its foot off the pedal to ramp up even more tension for the next action set-piece.
The expert camera work, choreography and pulse-pounding martial arts on show here give us some of the best moments in an action film for years. When it came out in 2012, The Raid was the best Die Hard movie since Die Hard.
6 – Wild Strawberries (1957)
Ingmar Bergman directs his idol, the legendary father of Swedish film, Victor Sjöström, in this fantastic contemplative film which depicts an elderly scholar at the end of his life looking back and questioning the man he had become.
The dream sequences in this movie set the precedent for every dream scene in a movie since, and it makes you yearn to have the same ability as Sjöström’s Dr Isak Borg: to suddenly jump into the past and relive your memories as though they were happening right in front of you.
It was difficult for me to choose this over The Seventh Seal, but Wild Strawberries stands out from the rest of Bergman’s movies, simply because of the powerfully positive message at the heart of this tale of redemption.
5 – The Lives of Others (2006)
The performances are the main draw in this non-conventional spy movie, which doesn’t focus on the chases and action we see in a usual spy film, but on the characters and their motivations. The late Ulrich Muhe delivers possibly one of the greatest, yet most understated, performances of the 00’s, in a role which, by the end, will drain your tear ducts dry.
Supported by a subtle, yet detailed and historically enlightened script, this movie gives us a chilling insight into the mysterious goings-on behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War.
4 – The Mirror (1975)
To choose one of Andrei Tarkovsky’s incredible movies for a top ten list is like choosing one favourite pet out of many. The Mirror makes the list, however, as it amplifies everything that is alluring, disturbing and beautiful about his other films, like Solaris and Stalker.
This movie delves into the history of Russia in the 20th century, but from a very personal, subjective and disjointedly narrated perspective. While delving into questions about the soul, or society as a whole, Tarkovsky manages to shock us with the very thing cinema was made for: visual spectacle. Each shot of this movie drizzles with cinematic perfection and bleeds subtext. What a beautiful movie indeed.
3 Fitzcarraldo (1982)
What’s crazier than a man deciding to build an Opera house in the middle of the rain forest, and to get there, he has to drag a 300 ton steam boat up a hill, from one river to the next? Well, the answer is: Werner Herzog, who decided to do just that.
Fitzcarraldo is set aside in the same league as Apocalypse Now and 2001: A Space Odyssey (as well as one of Herzog’s other ambitious movies, Aguirre: The Wrath of God) in that the director’s vision for the movie, and the means needed to make it, are actually more insane than the events they depict. Combine Herzog’s unstoppable drive with actor Klaus Kinski’s capricious and unpredictable behaviour, and you have one of the most daring movies of all time.
The making of this movie was documented in Les Blank’s Burden of Dreams, which shows the glorious extent of the insanity behind the film.
2 – Oldboy (2005)
The gruesome, bloody story of a man who has been imprisoned for fifteen years, with no human contact whatsoever, for reasons unknown to him. Once he breaks free, he sets out on a brutal rampage of vengeance, to find his captor and uncover the truth. Little does he know that the truth is more damning than he could ever have imagined.
Shakespearean in its drama, with an ending like a Greek tragedy, Chan-Wook Park’s Oldboy is not only a two-hour lesson in stylistic cinematography, but also a perfect example of a thriller which displays vicious and unpredictable cruelty towards its characters, with oh so much joy. Such a shame that Hollywood felt the need to remake this in 2013 with Josh Brolin. I’m not always against the idea of remakes, but with a movie this untouchable, it seems like sacrilege.
1 – 8 1/2 (1963)
“I really have nothing to say, but I want to say it all the same.” – This is a quote from Guido, the main character of 8 1/2, an overwrought film maker, struggling to come up with an idea for his next movie. This could, however, easily have been said by 8 1/2’s director, the legendary Federico Fellini, who named this semi-autobiographical film about the tribulations of film making, for the amount of movies he’d made up until that point – 6 full features, 2 shorts and 1 co-directed with Alberto Lattuada (the latter of which he considered a “half project”).
Dream sequences and reminiscences abound in this surreal comedy, with humour which, with a little immersion in the context, has aged fairly well. Guido, the hero of the movie, soul searches here, drifting in and out of his fantasies as the movie goes on. His past is distorted by his present views, as he remembers his childhood and past love interests. The music (composed by Nino Rota, who would later work on The Godfather) fits perfectly with every scene, complementing the dream sequences, or accompanying a triumphant parade.
8 1/2 also has one of the best written screenplays in cinema history, with a story that builds and builds, every scene feeding the climactic ending. This is a movie which gets more interesting and magical with each viewing, and which never fails to make me smile.
“Life is a party. Let’s live it together!”
Honourable Mentions
It was difficult to decide on a definitive top ten, so here are a few, in no particular order, which almost made the grade:
- Let the Right One in (2008)
- The Seventh Seal (1957)
- Che: Parts 1 & 2 (2008)
- Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
- Solaris (1972)
- Stalker (1979)
- The Great Beauty (2013)
- La Dolce Vita (1960)
- Ip Man (2008)
- Rashomon (1950)
- Battle Royale (2000)
- Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind (1984)
- Amelie (2001)
- Persepolis (2007)
- Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972)
- Grizzly Man (2005)
- Downfall (2004)
Did you agree with this list? Is there anything I missed? Let me know in the comments!
CNSMovies 
A French film came out this year called Raw – that was awesome!
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Just looked at the trailer – looks interesting, thanks for the recommendation!
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