#36...3/20. Watch 10 non-English language foreign films that I haven't seen
Since I've had a bunch of free time (stuck at home off my feet), I watched a few movies this past week. In fact, I was able to watch three foreign films. The first was a French-language film from Brussels called Panic au Village (A Town Called Panic). It is an animated feature film based on a Belgian television show. The animation is mostly stop motion, with little plastic toys making up much of the animation. The main characters are Cowboy, Indian and Horse, who all live together. Cowboy and Indian seem to act like the mischievous children of the household, and horse is like a parent, although I think they're all supposed to be adults and not actually related. Anyway, the movie takes us through them dealing with their house falling apart, and some sea creatures who seem to be trying to keep them from rebuilding their house. It was quite an amusing film. I had seen one of their shorts at Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation earlier this year, and that is what led me to this movie. I gave it 8 out of 10 stars on IMDB for it's originality and fun style of animation.
The second foreign film I watched was Diarios de Motocicleta (The Motorcycle Diaries). This is a Spanish language film out of Argentina. It stars Gael Garcia Bernal, who I've watched previously in films like Blindness and The Science of Sleep. Bernal plays a young Che Guevara, who along with his friend Alberto, decide to take a road trip on a motorcycle throughout South America. This takes place in 1952. The journey leads the once-sheltered to Buenos Aires medical student to find his true calling, in helping the common people of Latin America. He found along his travels many people in Chile and Peru who were very poor and receiving no help from the government. In fact, many of these people were being forced off of their lands. The two friends eventually made it to their destination, a leper colony in norther Peru. While there, the two volunteers showed fearlessness and a certain personal interaction with the affected that no one had displayed before. It was clear that they believed everyone should be treated equally and not shunned because of various reasons. Guevara would later go on to become one of the most famous revolutionaries ever. In the movie, I saw a certain serenity in the land and the people of South America. The continent was displayed beautifully. There are visions of the Andes Mountains, Machu Picchu and the Amazon. Having been to South America, I felt a sense of nostalgia in remembering the beauty of the land and people. It is not an action-packed or overly funny movie, but it did touch my heart. It only makes me long more for the world travels that lie in front of me. I gave it 8 out of 10 stars on IMDB.
The third foreign movie I watched is one I had almost gone to see at the Guild, a local independent theater near my house here in Albuquerque. It is Vals Im Bashir (Waltz With Bashir), a Hebrew-language animated documentary from Israel. I had high expectations for this film, but honestly it did not meet those expectations. I thought visually this was a beautiful film. I was mesmerized by the unique style of animation used. However, I found it hard to really get into the story that much. The documentary follows one man, Ari, as he recollects what took place during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. There were some shocking and stunning scenes, but overall it didn't flow very well for me. It is worth checking out to see the animation and to learn a bit about the invasion (which I knew nothing about), but one viewing is enough for me. I gave it 6 out of 10 stars on IMDB.
On a final note, check out teamzissou.weebly.com . This is a website I created for our kickball team, Team Zissou. I will be including pictures and video soon. For now I just have put up all of the designs I came up with for stickers and buttons. Enjoy!