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2013 Foreign Film Oscar Analysis

2013 was one of the worst years for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Not only did they nominate some very questionable movies and award the worst one from the slate, but they even snubbed a couple of truly great foreign movies of this year that have stood the test of time as absolute classics. A really problematic slate.

My Ranking of the Nominees:

5. The Great Beauty

I hate this movie. Sorrentino here basically copied Fellini. I am not a Fellini fan also, but at least he was an original director. This one is just a copycat. The movie has some interesting conversations in the first half, but for the most part it’s a plotless mess that has no purpose other than to be “artistic”. It is a pretentious, very annoying movie that is strange just for the sake of being strange while not having any meaningful character arcs or strong storytelling to boot. The fact that it won this year continues to frustrate me.

4. The Broken Circle Breakdown

The Broken Circle Breakdown is an overly melodramatic movie with an overbearingly depressing tone. The main performances are excellent, but I did not care about the story as it was executed in a frustratingly straightforward manner. The movie is mediocre and tedious. The annoying bluegrass music of course did not help it at all. I have actually watched this film twice and neither time did I end up enjoying it. It is by far the most forgettable movie on this slate.

3. The Missing Picture

The Missing Picture is a Cambodian documentary movie that is about the Khmer Rouge, a totalitarian regime that committed countless atrocities upon the people of this country during the late seventies. The movie is a demanding watch as it requires beforehand knowledge on the subject while its use of clay figurines made for a slow pace, but still it was the right, authentic choice given that the photographic output of the country is lost to time. The film is very tragic and so well filmed and directed.

2. Omar

Omar is the second best film nominated this year in the foreign category as it is a crime movie that I actually ended up liking despite usually not caring for this genre. It is very short and it could have been even more sophisticated, but the dialogue, storyline and characterization all worked in this Palestinian crime drama that deals with a very difficult, complex issue surprisingly potently. It also features a solid romantic subplot and it’s emotionally quite resonant, which I did not expect from it at all and was pleasantly surprised by that element.

1. The Hunt

The Hunt is a Danish drama that is one of the most popular coming from this country and for many great reasons. The performance from Mads Mikkelsen is terrific and Thomas Vinterberg’s direction is superb. The film is very difficult to watch, but emotional and immensely powerful in its story. The screenplay is fantastic and the film is thematically rich, truthful in its observations and it explores its tough situation to the fullest extent. It is even more relevant in what it has to say now then it was when it came out. It’s clearly the best nominated foreign film this year, but it is a 2012 release still. Vinterberg would later end up getting this Oscar for his much inferior 2020 movie.

Films That Should Have Been Nominated:

The Lunchbox – Rich in characters and details, sophisticated but also extremely romantic and universally relatable and appealing, The Lunchbox is an Indian romance that truly feels timeless in what it has done, which is move me almost to tears. It’s one of my favorite films of all time and a shameless Oscar snub this year.

Ilo Ilo – This Singaporean drama was a terrific directorial debut for Anthony Chen who deserved his Camera d’Or for it, but it also features excellent performances all around, deft editing and above all a superb script. It is an emotional and heartbreaking, but subtle and never overstated film and such a powerful realistic drama.

Blue is the Warmest Colour – The Academy consists of a bunch of prudes, so obviously they were never going to nominate a lesbian romance famous for its extremely long sex scene. Still, this is the most iconic foreign film of 2013 and it should have been nominated for the amazing performances and a one of a kind romance alone.