The MoFo Top 100 Foreign Language Film Countdown

I had The Battle of Algiers at #14.

6. Chungking Express (1994)
13. Sonatine (1993)
14. The Battle of Algiers (1966)
15. The Mirror (1975)
17. Red Desert (1964)
21. Caché (2005)
25. Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks (2004)

Also, yes this is a great countdown, one of the best, but the 90s list had it all: action, drama, comedy, romance! Plus all the movies.

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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

Happy enough to see The Battle Of Algiers show even if it didn't quite make my personal ballot and has meant me finding a replacement faildiction for this next set. Have never seen Z.

Seen: 32/46 (Own: 21/46)


Faildictions ((バージョン 1.01):
54. Playtime (1967)
53. Dung che sai duk [Ashes Of Time] (1994)

I had Z at #20, making 4 films from my list to make it so far.

I have not seen Battle of Algiers.

Both of these were movies I enjoyed. I’m pretty well a pushover for political stuff. I don’t remember a whole lot about either so they will definitely get a rewatch at some point.

Both were 3.5 from me, I believe, so even if I had seen them recently I don’t think they would have cracked my list.

The Battle of Algiers was #16 on my ballot. Character development is almost non-existent in the film, but this is sacrificed in service of presenting the events in the film on a larger scale and illustrating how widespread the conflict is. The scope of the film wouldn't have been as expansive as it was if Pontecorvo presented more intimacy amongst the characters. In addition to this, with the chaotic nature of some of the terrorist bombings, it often feels like we're watching a documentary and, at times, I found it hard to believe that I wasn't watching real-life footage, especially with the final sequence. Finally, numerous people are caught in the crossfire between the terrorist organization and the government, but fortunately, Morricone's soundtrack provides objectivity to the film and helps the viewer to recognize this brutality, like in this scene:



Overall, it's a masterpiece.

I've also seen Z. Though my memory of it isn't the best, I remember enjoying it quite a bit. I liked how it presented a similarly wide scope by showing the conflict from the perspective of multiple people. With that being said though, a different thriller whose title is only one letter long made my ballot instead

Updated ballot:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16. The Battle of Algiers (1966, Pontecorvo) #56
17.
18.
19. The Mirror (1975, Tarkovsky) #86
20.
21. Red Desert (1964, Antonioni) #64
22.
23. Vampyr (1932, Dreyer) #84
24.
25.