Bloggers Choose the 100 Best Non-English Films Ever Made
Filed under: Foreign Language, Lists, Cinematical Indie
Over at the blog Edward Copeland on Film, Mr. Copeland has compiled the results of a project he started a few months ago, with film writers -- bloggers, critics, professors, and so on -- voting on the 100 best movies ever made in a language other than English. He had a nominating committee of 51 people (including Cinematical's Kim Voynar) determine the list of nominees, and then the voting was open. There were a few stipulations: Documentaries, shorts, silent films, and movies newer than 2002 weren't eligible.A total of 174 ballots were entered. The top 10 is as follows. (See the entire top 100 here.)
1. The Rules of the Game, Jean Renoir, French
2. The Seven Samurai, Akira Kurosawa, Japanese
3. M, Fritz Lang, German
4. 8 1/2, Federico Fellini, Italian
5. Bicycle Thieves (more commonly -- and erroneously -- known as The Bicycle Thief), Vittorio de Sica, Italian
6. Persona, Ingmar Bergman, Swedish
7. Grand Illusion, Jean Renoir, French
8. Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Werner Herzog, German
9. The Battle of Algiers, Gillo Pontecorvo, French & Arabic
10. The 400 Blows, Francois Truffaut, French
No huge surprises there, except maybe that I'd have thought Bergman's Seventh Seal (#15) would be higher than his Persona. In the top 100 list, the names are the ones you'd expect: Kurosawa (7 times), Bergman (7), Fellini (5), Truffaut (4), Godard (5), etc. Renoir makes it just twice -- but they're both in the top 10!
As far as languages go, French is by far the most heavily represented, with 35 films (by my count) on the list. Italian is next (15), followed by Japanese (13). Russian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Polish, and Swedish are all represented a few times each, the latter two thanks entirely to Krzysztof Kieslowski and Ingmar Bergman, respectively. Danish shows up twice in the works of Carl Dreyer. Hungarian and Portuguese appear just once each, in Satantango (#97) and City of God (#26).
Any languages you're surprised not to see represented? (What, no Korean? No Middle Eastern languages except for the Arabic parts of The Battle of Algiers?) Which specific films do you think got left off? (I'm a sucker for Life Is Beautiful.) Discuss, discuss!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-19-2007 @ 8:42PM
Austin said...
Why didn't Life is Beautiful take the cake? That movie is the best foreign film of all time.
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9-20-2007 @ 4:58PM
AJ said...
Ugh Pan's wasn't eligible, not interested.
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9-19-2007 @ 10:04PM
december14th said...
I'm surprised to see that Satyajit Ray's 'Pather Panchali' did not make the list.
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9-19-2007 @ 11:41PM
Ray said...
I'm also surprised there's no Korean or Middle Eastern films on there. I know it's much more recent than most of those on the list, but Oldboy is easily the best revenge film I've ever seen.
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9-20-2007 @ 1:10AM
M.E. Williams said...
I think to understand the selection process you have to go back and look at the blog over the time that the selections were being made. There was definitely talk of "Why not much Asian film outside of Japan? Why no Middle Eastern film?" But you have to know that they started with a list of over 400 movies and gradually narrowed it down. Also, several recent popular non-English films were ineligible... Pan's Labyrinth for sure, possibly also Last Life in the Universe.
I think for me, the major mystery was whether The Seven Samurai would be #1 or #2! :) It's like when someone runs down American films and you're not sure whether the top spot will go to Citizen Kane or The Godfather.
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9-20-2007 @ 4:09AM
TMwtP said...
And where is Stalker, Solyaris or Nostalghia? Tarkovsky only represented with one film...
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9-20-2007 @ 10:20AM
Ian said...
Life is Beautiful should have been top ten! Great movie
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9-20-2007 @ 3:39PM
ML said...
What I noticed is a lot of directors have more than one film on the list. Surely other directors made films worthy of recognition? Since I haven't seen as many non-English films as I'd like to have (I've only seen 16 on this list!), I look to these kinds of lists for suggestions of films to see. I already know that Kurosawa is a great filmmaker - are seven of his films really that good (same for Bergman) to push out all other potentials? Anyway, when I see seven directors with four or more titles, I have to wonder about a list. It seems to me that there's more talent out there and something has been missed. However, there were more one-tome listings than by my first impression, but still less than 40% by my count. ... But, hey, what do I know, I'm no expert!
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9-20-2007 @ 3:42PM
techstar25 said...
What happened to Pan's Labyrinth?
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9-27-2007 @ 9:38AM
Turkey said...
I'm really surprised that To Live and Farewell My Concubine didn't make the list. However, I was pleased as all get-out to see that The Umbrellas of Cherbourg was on it--I originally intended on seeing only the first five minutes and wound up staying up until 4am watching the whole thing. And then I just sat there speechless.
Raise the Red Lantern is also a favorite. I'm glad I bought it, considering the number of times I've been prompted to see it. Incredible insight into the life of a plural wife. I often find myself thinking about scenes from the film without even realizing it.
And of course, Das Boot IS one of the best, and most realistic war films ever made. To this day the thought of a man getting crabs so bad that they have infested his eyebrows gives me the willies.
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