However, the Oscars are far more telling. The self-appointed world championships of film have been going since 1929, and no exclusively foreign-language film has ever won the award for Best Picture. Ever. In fact, only nine have even been nominated (out of a total of 503 nominees), and one of those was Letters from Iwo Jima, an American film directed by Clint Eastwood. Bergman, Fellini, Tartovsky: these are just some of the illustrious names who, according to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, have never made the year’s best film.
But apparently Kevin Costner has.
That’s pretty fucked, and there’s no sign of change; many (if not most) of this century’s greatest films have hailed from outside the Anglophone world, but only two have earned Best Picture nominations. Here are but five foreign-language films released since 2000 that should have won Best Picture:
2000: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (China)
This film brought Chinese cinema to the West’s attention like no other before it, and it’s the only movie on this list to earn a Best Picture nomination. Beautifully choreographed and shot, hindsight has elevated Crouching Tiger far above 2000’s eventual winner, the dated and plodding Gladiator. Moreover, Crouching Tiger enabled some beautiful successors, including Hero and House of Flying Daggers. Gladiator, meanwhile, spawned Alexander and Troy.
2003: Oldboy (South Korea)
Yes, at least one of the Lord of the Rings films deserved Best Picture. But it sure as hell wasn’t Return of the King, a film so tortuous, overblown and anticlimactic (oh cool, invincible deus ex machina ghosts!) it almost ruined everything. Thankfully the Oscars are a sham, so Return of the King won 11 of them. Meanwhile, one of the most inventive, entertaining and downright disturbing action films ever made received no Oscar nominations at all, not even for Best Foreign Language Film (i.e. the Darkie Consolation Prize). Naturally, Cannes was more perceptive, the Tarantino-led jury awarding Oldboy the Grand Prix.
2006: The Lives of Others (Germany)
Set in East Berlin shortly before the fall of the Wall, The Lives of Others follows a dour Stasi agent assigned to spy on a playwright who is suspected of assisting the West. The 2006 Oscar went to The Departed, itself a brilliant film. But whereas The Departed is one of the great crime films, The Lives of Others is one of the great films of any genre. A realistic, powerful and gripping movie, and possibly the best this century has seen. (An honourable mention for 2006 goes to Pan’s Labyrinth, which is also one of the best films of the last decade.)
2008: Waltz With Bashir (Israel)
Waltz With Bashir tore up the rulebook for documentaries. Its rotoscoped animation, unconventional narrative and deep psychological introspection make it one of the most unique and profound films ever made, as well as one of cinema’s finest meditations on war. Eschewing the “reality” of live-action footage is an extremely risky move for a documentary, especially one with such controversial subject-matter; but it’s carried off with perfect awareness and sensitivity, and raises the film to a transcendent level of visual poetry. Whatevs, though, the Academy thought Slumdog Millionaire was better. Honourable mentions: Gomorra, Let the Right One In.
