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!

1957 Winner, Nights of Cabiria

Nights of Cabiria

Director:        Federico Fellini

Distributed by:  Lopert Pictures Corporation

Released:  May 1957

Country:  Italy

Giulietta Masina is a name you probably never heard of.  She was Fellini’s wife of 50 years and one day.  They fell in love after he picked her for a radio serial he had written and they were married shortly after in 1943.  She died just five months after he did in 1993.  She was his muse, his inspiration, and his partner.

But she was also a great actress in her own right, starring in a number of movies directed by her husband, including 1957’s Best Foreign Film, Nights of Cabiria.  For her performance in this film, she won several awards, including Best Actress awards from the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists and from the Cannes Film Festival.  She starred in two of Fellini’s Best Foreign Films—this one and the more known La Strada from 1956.  She’s very good in that film, but it’s rare when you see a performance as moving as when she plays the prostitute Cabiria in this film.

Nights of Cabiria starts with a scene that shows exactly how things are going for Cabiria.  She is frolicking (yes, frolicking) with a young man, Giorgio, on the banks of a river, swinging her purse and gazing at him with one of those “I wish someone looked at me like that” looks.  Then Giorgio points to the river: Looky there!  She looks, and in one motion grabs the purse and pushes her into the drink.  Turns out their relationship was nothing but a con to get what little money she had.

Cabiria with her movie star john

Cabiria almost drowns, but is saved by some locals.  She is hurt and angry, but she moves on in her dreary life.  She has a small home, more than most of the other prostitutes she knows have.  She’s not very attractive, but she never seems to be without a smile, except of course when men are stealing all her money and nearly killing her.  She has friends, but they’re all prostitutes too, and she wants more out of life.

She is exposed to more.  She briefly is under the “employ” of a rich movie star who is on the outs with his glamorous girlfriend.  He invites her to his place but makes no advances.  She is wowed at how the other half lives, and he genuinely seems to like her.  But he eventually makes up with his girl and she is again back to reality.  Another time, she is impressed by a group of nuns that come through the prostitute neighborhood.  She wonders if this is the life she should choose, but again, in her gritty world, such things don’t seem realistic.

Humiliated by a hypnotist

All this is prelude to what happens to her at a carnival.  She is “volunteered” at one of those cheap carny acts, a hypnotist having her acting out her desires.  Her desires, as we all know, is for her to lead a normal life, with a kind husband and maybe some kids and household chores to attend to.  She is on stage, pantomiming the gestures of her naïve ideas of what love is, and her performance ends with her realizing the audience is all laughing at her.  It’s awful, but saved by one man, Oscar, who approaches her after the show, taking her side and letting her know her ideas are not so naïve.

The relationship between Cabiria and Oscar forms the film’s third act.  Without telling you how it goes, there are two scenes that stand out.  The first is about one of the most heartbreaking scenes you will see on film, and Masina acts it masterfully.  Like Al Pacino’s famous scene in The Godfather as he ponders his first assassination, Masina’s feelings are all told in the eyes.  The scene is followed by a scene full of hope, again the product of a great performance by Masina. 

It's all in the eyes

Fellini deserves all the praise in the world for his directing in this film.  But he must have given his wife Giulietta Masina a few “I wish someone looked at me like that” looks as he watched her give a performance that made this film a pleasure to watch.

The Title:  Le notti di Cabiria.  Cabiria was actually a character in an earlier film, the first one directed solely by Fellini, The White Sheik (or Lo sceicco bianco) from 1952.  The part was played by Mesina in that film as well.

The culture:  This film is Fellini before he turned from neo-realism to art films filled with symbolism, like 1963’s 8½.  None of the prostitutes are beautiful, and their lives sure aren’t. 

More acting with the eyes: Alec Guiness, The Bridge on the River Kwai

Agenda danger:  The film also includes a popular topic for Fellini, the Catholic Church.  It’s clear Fellini, who was Catholic, has mixed feelings about the traditions and beliefs of the Church.  Cabiria’s brief encounter with the Church does offer her a bit of hope for redemption and a better life, but she never pursues that chance seriously.

Best Picture that year:  The Bridge on the River Kwai.

Rating:  I’m not saying this is Fellini’s best film—I would chose 1956’s La Strada as my favorite—but it is a great character study, featuring a wonderful performance by Mesina.  The story is a sad one, but Mesina’s Cabiria isn’t someone you feel sorry for, despite her being a down-on-her-luck prostitute.  To me, that’s great acting.