Ranking 2000s Foreign Oscar Winners

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Ranking 2000s Foreign Oscar Winners List

The 2000s overall were one of the better periods when it comes to the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It started off strongly, but then it became so much worse during the second half of the decade. They picked so many safe choices, but at least a couple are quite admirable and ultimately deserved.

10. The Secret in Their Eyes

This one should be seen just for the performances because both Ricardo Darin and Soledad Villamil did a terrific job in their roles, but otherwise it is an incredibly tired and just downright tedious crime film that is both too violent and also very standard for its genre with nothing new to offer whatsoever. It’s easily the worst winner of the decade.

9. The Counterfeiters

How did this movie ever win an Academy Award when it’s so damn basic? Well, the Academy’s obsession with WWII once again reared its ugly head as this Austrian flick admittedly has an intriguing premise, but it’s never explored in any more meaningful manner. Instead, we get just another period piece which are getting tired by now.

8. Tsotsi

Tsotsi is very well directed, superbly acted and phenomenally shot and scored with a particularly strong soundtrack. It has its moments and it’s overall solid and harmless. However, this storyline is incredibly predictable, clichéd and cheesy. It’s a highly competently made, but entirely unoriginal flick that also had no business winning an Oscar.

7. The Lives of Others

Of all the movies on this list, easily the most disappointing one to me personally was The Lives of Others. Judging by its premise and level of acclaim, I expected truly great things. What I got, however, was a competent, very solid and incredibly acted film, but one which is so boring and badly paced that I quickly lost interest in it. It winning over ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ was a travesty.

6. Departures

This one had such a terrific first act that was both funny and poignant, original and different. But everything that came after it was clichéd as the film resorted to typically emotionally manipulative terrain that felt forced. It should have been so much smarter than it ended up being given the complex subject matter.

5. The Sea Inside

The Sea Inside is competently made and very well acted by Javier Bardem in what is one of his greatest performances. The film is at its best in those dream flight sequences which are cinematic and very memorable, but otherwise it relied on typically cheesy emotional scenes instead of genuinely exploring the very complex issue of euthanasia.

4. The Barbarian Invasions

This one was also immensely disappointing to me as I absolutely adored the original film. This sequel is once again very charming, highly witty and featuring strong dialogue throughout. However, instead of a comedy, this one is more of a drama, and simply the soapy cancer drama that we got was not how I wanted these characters to end their stories.

3. Nowhere in Africa

Nowhere in Africa is uneven in quality and long, but this is actually a surprisingly strong historical drama which gives us a different kind of WWII story that was quite interesting while also dealing with the central tumultuous marriage really potently. The dialogue and emotional investment are the highlights along with the acting and the characterization of the main duo.

2. No Man’s Land

This Bosnian film so tragically depicts how foreign influences have shamelessly shaped and maybe even started the Bosnian War. Thus, the movie is eye-opening in a way, but also very strong in its anti-war, absurdist elements. It’s a surprisingly strong anti-war movie that I never expected to be this good and this unbiased so I am quite happy that it won an Oscar.

1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

And the only truly great movie gets the first spot, no question asked. Yes, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is an epic, highly cinematic film that benefits from beautiful costumes, fun action scenes, a fantastic score and great direction from Ang Lee. But the characters themselves are so deep and complex, and so well developed that they are the standouts for sure. It’s ultimately one of the essential wuxia films, and a much deserved Oscar winner.