Top Ten Movies from EuropeFrom stories of grace and beauty to those depicting the horrors and heartbreak of war and death, here's one critic's list of European movies worth watching.by Agnieszka Tennant |
posted 8/24/2004
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In Part 1 ("You shall not have other gods besides me"), a university professor introduces his son to a world in which everything can be calculated. But after his son goes ice skating—following the father's estimate that the ice cover on the lake is thick enough to be safe—the world of professor's self-reliance comes crumbling down. Maybe he needs something that cannot be measured: faith. Parts 2 and 8 speak against taking a child's life, Parts 3, 6 and 9 deal with romantic love, which ultimately is "in the heart, not between the legs," in the words of a Part 9 protagonist.
Content: Some parts are unsuitable for children (Part 6 especially, for sexuality); parents should watch them first before allowing their teenagers to see them. On the other hand, some of the films (particularly Parts 1, 2 and 8) are good fodder for Sunday school discussion:
(For more on Decalogue, see my full review in Christianity Today magazine.)
Jean de Florette
and
Manon of the Spring
(France, 1986)
Directed by Claude Berri
The 1986 French film and its sequel is an enthrallingly told tale of corruption and the way it tends to eventually turn on its plotters. Based on two novels by French writer Marcel Pagnol, Jean de Florette and its worthy sequel Manon of the Spring have been compared to Greek and Shakespearean tragedies.
As do all tragedies, this one begins with a legitimate desire: in this case, one for water—the water whose source is hidden on the property inherited by a hunchback (played robustly by Gerard Depardieu) who settles on the farm near Marseilles. Greed leads his neighbors to secretly plug his stream and, eventually, to destroy him—something that his beautiful daughter, Manon, will not forget when she grows up, as we learn in the second movie.
Content: Both films are rated PG. Jean de Florette contains one scene of nudity; Manon's violence may be unsuitable for young children.
The Man Without a Past
(Finland, 2002)
Directed by Aki Kaurismaki
Dry, understated humor, bursts of human warmth, and superb sound track in The Man Without a Past are bound to make anyone feel good after watching this movie.
The title character gets mugged and is left for dead when he gets off the train in Helsinki. When he wakes up in a hospital, he doesn't remember who he is. As with other "amnesia movies," the protagonist gets a chance to start from scratch. This one begins his new life in a cargo container, like other homeless people. A Salvation Army employee who helps him put his life together looks past his current social status and into his heart.
Content: Rated PG-13 for graphic violence and profanity.
My Life as a Dog
(Sweden, 1985)
Directed by Lasse Hallström
My Life as a Dog is a sensitive look at a curious boy with a lot on his mind. Besides puberty, 12-year-old Ingemar Johansson has to deal with his mother's dying of tuberculosis, his father's abandonment, a displacement that separates him from his brother, and the death of his dog.
Like the French Ponette on this list (see below), this movie doesn't patronize its young protagonist and other children, respecting their understanding of the confusing adult world. Ingemar's questions mirror to us the consequences of our adult decisions. For example, he wonders, what was so great about sending Laika into space so it can be the first dog there? The dog's subsequent death from starvation? This and other bittersweet insights make the 1987 Swedish release worth our time to reflect on the Ingemar in the youngsters around us—and the Ingemar who resides inside each of us.
Content: Rated PG-13, the film contains scenes of teen sex play and profanities.
No Man's Land
(Bosnia, 2001)
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