Madeleine Leroux:
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly recently came out on DVD and ondemand HBO networks all over, so watch it. It is a french film based on a true story of man reduced to communicating through blinks alone and writing a novel about his experience – through blinking it. It’s a beautiful, amazing film that will really get to you, so please give it a shot and check it out. It’s worth the subtitles.
Sean McGahan
Films from other countries are great because they expose sheltered U.S. viewers to things they likely have never experienced. Never was this more true for me than when I stumbled into a movie theater to watch a film I didn’t even know was in a different language.
Before seeing “City of God” as a high school student in 2003, my limited knowledge of Rio de Janeiro was the postcard images the film talks about early on. Roughly 130 minutes later, I was hooked to an alternate version as told through the eyes of young slum dweller Buscapé, or Rocket as the subtitles call him.
The film is perfect in every way. Words cannot do it justice. Watch it now.
So, today, being late for my Spanish class, I printed the questions that I needed to bring and ripped them out of the printer. In doing so, I caught a glance of the words atop of the page: “Laberinto del fauno”. Because I am a Spanish major, I recognized most of what that phrase meant at first glance: I knew the first word meant labyrinth.
Great film selections. If you haven’t already seen them, I highly recommend ELITE SQUAD as well. That one’s written by the same guy who did CITY OF GOD. Very much in the same vein, but gives other points of view on the drug problem in Rio.
If you liked PAN’S LABYRINTH, you’ll also probably like THE ORPHANAGE. Very scary, but very good. Great for those studying Spanish. Keep watching foreign films! There are a lot of hidden gems out there…