My BFF Wrap-Up: My Ranking

Starting in June 2016, I watched and reviewed every winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, or in short, Best Foreign Film (BFF), in reverse chronological order from the 2015 entry to the awards inception in 1947 (watching the 2016 winner at the end).  Part of the experiment was to see how many of these I would be able to find.  In most cases, I was able to borrow the DVD of each film from the Cuyahoga County Library system (a consistently top rated system in Northeast Ohio), and as things went further back in time, that meant using the inter-library systems CCL employs, SearchOhio and OhioLINK.  I did have to watch a couple on the dusty old VCR.  On two or three occasions when I couldn’t find the movie through the CCL system, I was able to get DVDs from the Cleveland Public Library.  Once I paid $2 to watch a movie on Amazon, and that was the grand total of money I spent on this project.  I did find a couple rare films online, having exhausted every other possibility.  Only once was I not able to find a film at all, at least with English subtitles, and that was 1950’s The Walls of Malapaga.  I watched it only in French with Portuguese subtitles, and decided to review it anyway.

My reviews were intended for people who don’t normally watch foreign films, a group that included me not all that long ago.  I found a lot of the movies worth watching, not just ones you might see at an art house, but movies I am convinced would have been mainstream American favorites had they been in English.  I also sat through a lot of tedious, self-admiring crap that got awards for having the right political or social view to the voters of the Academy.  But enough about The Sea Inside.  My goal was to make the reviews be entertaining, especially when the movie wasn't, and to give American viewer something they could relate to.

The list here is my amateurish attempt to rank what is perhaps the unrankable.  There are a variety of genres and so many different cultures represented here that it is almost unfair to compare them against each other.  But I did anyway, and the films are listed below from best to worst.  Click any movie title to read the review.  You can follow me on Twitter at @hawley5150.   

Enjoy!

1989, Cinema Paradiso, Italy

2006, The Lives of Others, Germany

1951, Rashomon, Japan

1998, Life Is Beautiful, Italy

1957, La Strada, Italy

1949, The Bicycle Thief, Italy

2011, A Separation, Iran

1975, Dersu Uzala, Soviet Union

1967, Closely Watched Trains, Czechoslovakia

1947, Shoeshine, Italy

1964, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Italy

1963, 8½, Italy

2009, The Secret in Their Eyes, Argentina

1972, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, France

1983, Fanny and Alexander, Sweden

1962, Sundays and Cybele, France

1965, The Shop on Main Street, Czechoslovakia

1986, The Assault, The Netherlands

2000, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Taiwan

1987, Babette's Feast, France

1960, The Virgin Spring, Sweden

2002 Nowhere in Africa, Germany

1958, My Uncle, France

1971, The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, Italy

1968, War and Peace, Soviet Union

1957, Nights of Cabiria, Italy

2007, The Counterfeiters, Austria

1974, Amarcord, Italy

1952, Forbidden Games, France

 
1961, Through a Glass Darkly, Sweden

2014, Ida, Poland

2016, The Salesman, Iran

1948, Monsieur Vincent, France

2008, Departures, Japan

2015, Son of Saul, Hungary

1970, Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, Italy

1985, The Official Story, Argentina

1969, Z, Algeria

1966, A Man and a Woman, France

1973, Day for Night, France

1990, Journey of Hope, Switzerland

1980, Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears, Soviet Union

1982, Begin the Beguine, Spain

1993, Belle Époque, Spain

1959, Black Orpheus, France

1992, Indochine, France

1988, Pelle the Conqueror, Denmark

2005, Tsotsi, South Africa

1977, Madame Rosa, France

1981, Mephisto, Hungary

1954, Gate of Hell, Japan

2010, In a Better World, Denmark

1955, Samurai, The Legend of Musashi, Japan

2001, No Man's Land, Bosnia and Herzegovina

1976, Black and White and in Color, Ivory Coast

1979, The Tin Drum, West Germany

1996, Kolya, Czech Republic

1994,  Burnt by the Sun, Russia

1978, Get Out Your Handkerchiefs, France

2012, Amour, France

2013, The Great Beauty, Italy

1997, Character, Netherlands

2014, The Sea Inside, Spain

1995, Antonia's Line, Netherlands

2003, The Barbarian Invasions, Canada

1991, Mediterraneo, Italy

1984, Dangerous Moves, France

1999, All About My Mother, Spain

1950, The Walls of Malapaga, France/Italy (not ranked)

FINE!

1950 Winner, The Walls of Malapaga

The Walls of Malapaga

Director:  René Clément

Distributed by:  Films International

Released:  March 1950 (in U.S.)

Country:  France/Italy

To this point, beginning with the 2015 Best Foreign Film Son of Saul going backward to 1950, I've been able to locate and watch, either from a library or online, every Best Foreign Film with English subtitles.  1951 winner The Walls of Malapaga is my first fail, as it were.  I looked on Amazon and Overstock and eBay; and I looked on every rare film website and library site I knew of; and I even asked for help on Reddit.  Nothing.

However, my efforts weren’t a complete loss, as good ol’ YouTube has the French film posted . . . but with Portuguese subtitles instead of English.  I don’t speak Portuguese, but I did take five years of French in high school and college, so I know some colors, numbers, swear words, and food words.  I also know how to ask where the swimming pool, beach, and bathroom are—pretty much the essentials if you go abroad.  But past that I’m pretty lost.  Still, my goal has been to watch them all and review them all, so I watched every bit of the 90-minute film, directed by René Clément, who directed the wonderful Best Foreign Film Forbidden Games from two years later.  You’ll have to give me a little slack on this one.  Here goes:

Pierre and Marta

Our story starts with a guy on a ship, and IMDb tells me his name is Pierre.  Pierre gets off and it is apparent he has a toothache because he holds his mouth and utters a “Zut alors” a time or deux while walking down the street.  He gets to the dentist, who seems to fix him up in no time; then he pops into a restaurant and makes eyes at a waitress named Marta (again, thanks, IMDb!).  He can’t pay his bill but they let him go anyway.  It’s about then we realize Pierre is somehow wanted by the law because the cops are after him.  He gets away and eventually spends the night at Marta’s house, where he meets Cecchina, Marta’s young daughter, or else just some random girl that seems to be living with Marta.  Suddenly . . . . a chicken falls out of the ceiling, which leads Pierre to decide to take a nap.  The chicken falls out of the ceiling again, although I am uncertain if it was the same chicken.  I’m positive it is a chicken, by the way, because the word poulet is used several times and I remember that one from high school.  Merci, Pere Petkash!

Cecchina about to smart off

The next morning, Marta walks her daughter to school as a cop follows her.  Next thing you know, the cop is grabbing Marta, but a nun from the school fights him off.  Marta goes back home, where Pierre is, and has an argument with a guy, either a judge or her husband?  The daughter comes in and realizes her mom is hiding Pierre, but plays along.  Mom shows Cecchina a dress she got for her; then the daughter smarts off and mom smacks her across the chops.   The French of 1949 apparently believe in corporal punishment.

So for some reason, despite the cops on Pierre's trail, they are all okay to walk around down by the pier and Marta pops in the restaurant, maybe to get her check?  The policeman is still looking for Pierre and goes into talk to the dentist to see if the dentist can fill him in on his whereabouts.  The policeman goes to the restaurant too, but they pretend or don’t pretend to have no idea where he is.  Meanwhile, Pierre seems to feel free to walk anywhere he wants, so it would seem he’s not really worried about the police all that much. 

In Genoa, this is how we say Shut Up.

At some point, while they are all sitting around at home, the daughter runs away, I guess thinking she’ll rat out Pierre.  Pierre and Marta look for her.  Much to their chagrin, it leads to Pierre getting nabbed by the cops and Marta and her daughter walking away.  Someone shouts, "Pierre!  Pierre!"  Suddenly, out of nowhere a big fat “FINE” is next and that’s the end of that.  Talk about a shock ending.

If there are The Walls of Malapaga fanatics out there that want to disagree with me on my synopsis, I am open to it, but I have to tell you, I know that was a chicken falling out the ceiling that I saw.  It was suggested that I look to Wikipedia or other websites to get a better handle on what happened, but the pickings were slim online.  Wikipedia’s total summary goes like this:  “[Jean] Gabin is a French criminal, Pierre Arrignon, on the run who finds himself in Genoa, Italy, and falls in love with a local girl, Marta Manfredini (played by Isa Miranda). The film is set in Italy but the dialogue is primarily in French.”  Zut!  No spoilers in that summary.

The film's startling conclusion

The Title: Au-delà des grilles, or Beyond the Gates.  Urbandictionary.com says a “malapaga” is someone who owes money or is a bad credit risk.  So it would stand to reason that Pierre is caught in the end for owing people money, especially given his track record of not paying for his food at the restaurant.

The culture:  What I knew about Genoa before this movie was that Christopher Columbus was born here and that’s pretty much it.  Now I know they have defensive walls around the city and that some people keep their chickens in the ceiling.

Agenda danger:  “Crime does not pay” isn’t really a bad message, except that all I know Pierre did wrong is to be delinquent in not paying for his meal and possibly for some dental work.

Best Picture that year:  All About Eve

Rating:  I guess “Incomplete” is the best grade I can give this one, but I can again recommend Clément's earlier film, Forbidden Games.