Foreign Flicks0

I just started using my Xbox Netflix subscription again so over the past 3-4 days I’ve streamed 3 different foreign films that I’d like to briefly share. Maybe it’s my lame attempt to become more cultured and find some fantastic films that are outside of the Hollywood mainstream of big budget extravagance. Or maybe I just like reading movies instead of understanding what characters actually say. Either way, in these three films at least, it’s clear the foreign films are particularly good at displaying (and playing with) raw human emotion. This is not to say that American films don’t ever do this, but here it seemed different.

I’m not particularly great at writing movie reviews, so this will be short. But I do think I know what constitutes a good movie (for me at least) and it goes something like this in order of importance. Script (Dialogue), Acting, Cinematography, Soundtrack, Plot. There are probably other, but I’m cooking pancakes right (tasty) now and my attention is distracted.

In the order I watched them:

Sin Nombre (Translated: Without Name) (Mexican)

This was is a Spanish language film that tells the tale of a young man who is a member of the infamous Mara Salvatrucha gang (more commonly known as MS-13). He ends up at one point deciding to leave the gang life behind and head from Honduras on a train north through Mexico towards the USA. Many other things occur during the movie which would be dumb of me to mention here because it would ruin a lot of it. But what I though was really good were a couple of things. First, the cinematography in the movie is pretty good. But what was even more interesting was how the gang life was depicted. According to IMDB the director used some of the actual gang members of MS-13 as well as immigrants riding on top of the trains. The story line is good- but remember foreign directors don’t like to sugar coat things, but rather portray a reality that goes unseen. Thus it is raw, which is what I like.

Gomorrah (Italian)

If you like mafia flicks than this one is for you. The film follows the lives of 5 different characters- a Haute Couture tailor, a money handling middle-man, a young boy, and two young friends who like to operate themselves. The film deals with the an Italian crime syndicate (mafia) known as the Cammora. (The movie is based on a book, so actual events may have not actually happened, but similar events and ties are real). It follows the five main characters and how the local mafia affects and endangers their everyday lives. Hits, dirty business, payoffs, racketeering, etc. It’s all included. My description isn’t exactly fantastic, but this movie was “presented” by Martin Scorsese, and he knows mob movies. I will say however, that is pretty beyond what he does. The cinematography is out of this world in my opinion and the story line is really good. But again, this is a no frills kind of movie- if you’re in to straight up Italian mafia stuff, then this is for you. If you’re looking for an action packed mob thriller- then this probably isn’t for you.

Welcome (French)

This movie takes place in a city on shore of the English channel in France. It deals in large part with immigrants again, mostly those who come out of the mid-east, Iraq, Afghanistan, or Turkey. They have made their way across parts of Europe but what stands between them is the English channel. Similar to what happens on the US border, immigrants try to make their way through by hiding on trucks before boarding the ferries that go across. The main character, a teenage boy trying to making to London to reunite with his girlfriend (who is set to marry her older (like 50) cousin) is unable to go in the trucks for reasons you find out in the film. He then starts to pay for swimming lesson to learn how to become a better swimmer so he can, you guessed it, swim across the channel. But this isn’t some sort karate kid movie where the kid sucks and trainer says there’s no hope, then we get a sweet music/workout montage as he improves. No, this movie is French. That will not happen. But it focuses instead on an immigration problem in Europe (its not only the US) as well as the hope (and hopelessness) of the characters. The cinematography is good (though not as good as Gomorrah) but the script is just awesome in my opinion. This is not your typical boy tries to get back to his girlfriends movie….it doesn’t play out like that kind of movie, but instead focuses on larger issues as well as the character at the same time. It’s excellent.

Obviously, I recommend all three of these movie. My favorite being the last one Welcome. If anyone has seen these or has any thoughts on them, leave a comment and let me know. I’d love to hear what people think. Or if you have any other lesser known foreign flicks to recommend.