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This is the first of a four-part series on some of the best foreign-language films—at least according to two of our critics, foreign-film buffs Agnieszka Tennant and Stefan Ulstein. This installment examines the best films from Europe. Part 2, coming next week, will look at the best films from Asia; part 3, in two weeks, will examine the best films from the Middle East; and part 4, in three weeks, looks at the "best of the rest" of the world.

I cannot speak in generalities about movies from Europe. This diverse continent falls victim to enough stereotypes already. For example, we may think that the former Soviet Union chased out God from its territory and its art, or that French movies are risqué and shallow. Swedes are cold; Polaks are dumb; Serbs are ruthless.

But for every generalization about Europe and Europeans, there's a movie that defies it. The directors of the films listed below do it masterfully, giving us remarkable lessons in complex sensibilities of the continent from which many of our ancestors—and some of us—came.

Andrei Rublev

(Soviet Union, 1969)

A critically acclaimed epic that sheds light on what it means to be a Christian and an artist, Andrei Tarkovsky's movie is based on the life of a medieval icon painter. Andrei Rublev traces its protagonist through a famine, a Tatar incursion, a "painter's block," a faith crisis, and finally his artistic restoration and a kind of redemption. The film itself is a visual magnum opus that celebrates beauty and art with such breathtaking intensity that one wonders if one could endure this movie had it not been in black-and-white.

Content: Depictions of nudity and sensuality. For mature audiences only.

Babette's Feast

(Denmark, 1987)

In Babette's Feast, director Gabriel Axel serves up the most delicious cinematic portrayal of grace. The setting of the film—in the house of two old maidens who follow in the footsteps of their deceased father in leading an austere religious sect in a lackluster fishing village on Denmark's Jutland peninsula—makes the lavishness of a feast prepared by a French cook even more surprising. The fact that only one person really appreciated the extravagant meal gives us a speculative insight into the mind of God, whose thoughtful gifts to us too often go underappreciated.

Unlike other food-centered movies (Like Water for Chocolate, Chocolat, Tortilla Soup), this one restrains its depictions of food, music, sensuality, beauty, and grace. Its humor and observations, too, are gentle and understated. That, too—like the self-control in enjoying a gourmet meal—is the secret of its power.

Content: No objectionable material, but its slow pace and dialogue may bore younger viewers.

Before the Rain

(Macedonia, 1994)

This tense three-part drama showcases the way wartime derails people's lives.

The first section takes place in a Macedonian monastery where a young monk, who has taken a two-year vow of silence, is hiding an Albanian girl toward whom he's developing affection. The second segment introduces us to a photo editor in London who has an affair with a Macedonian war photographer. In the third part, the photographer returns to his home village in Macedonia (one we know from the first segment) and looks up a woman he once liked. The three stories are intriguingly and artfully interconnected as their characters mingle in the context of violence between Christian Macedonians and Albanian Muslims.

Content: Portrayals of nudity and violence make it suitable for mature viewers only.

Decalogue

(Poland, 1987)

The late great Polish director's Decalogue stands for not one but ten enchanting films loosely corresponding to the Ten Commandments. Catholic but rarely churchgoing Krzysztof Kieslowski (also known for The Three Colors: Blue, White, Red) once said that the individual commandments influence each movie "to the same degree that the commandments influence our daily lives." Consequently, some of the films relate to a given commandment almost incidentally, using it instead as an excuse for more complex, ethical debates. And all of the films speak from the particular landscape of Poland under communism to the universal questions we all have.

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Related Elsewhere:

Top Ten Movies from Asia	Printer view
From hilarious comedies to poignant—even heartbreaking—stories about culture and society, here's one critic's list of Asian movies worth watching.

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Top Ten Movies from the Middle East	Printer view
In a time when so many images from this part of the world remind us of war, two of our critics list ten outstanding films from the area that give us a better understanding of its people.

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Top Ten Movies from the Rest of the World	Printer view
Previous articles in this series looked at the best films from Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Here's the best of the rest of the planet, as chosen by two of our critics.