Thursday Movie Picks: Non-English Language Films

 

For the 28th week of 2021 as part of Wandering Through the Shelves' Thursday Movie Picks. We go into the recurring subject of non-English language films as it’s something that English-speaking audiences don’t go into often as it’s easy forget (if you’re living in a rock) that there’s other places in the world. Especially as films would say something that someone in America might relate to even though it’s in a different language. Here are my three picks as they’re all directed by women:

1. Wings

Larisa Sheptiko’s debut film is an evocative story about a former World War II pilot who becomes a flight school headmistress as she deals with her past that revolved around her glory days as a heroic pilot. It’s a unique character study that explores a woman who is dealing with a life that doesn’t have much excitement as well as being estranged to her daughter. It is a film that explore generational differences as it all play into a woman dealing with the past and the lack of future she has.

2. Love and Anarchy

From Lina Wertmuller is a film about an anarchist who stays at a brothel in a plan to kill Benito Mussolini in 1930s Fascist Italy. It is a film that doesn’t just explore social and sexual politics but also a man who finds himself in a world that he knows little about as he’s from the country and he’s in the city. Starring Giancarlo Giannini in one of his quintessential collaborations with Wertmuller, the film is this study of a man trying to serve a cause for a friend only to fall in love with a prostitute as he deals with the many inequalities around him including how women are treated during the time of Fascism.

3. Raw

Julia Ducournau’s feature film debut is certainly one for the ages as it explores a young veterinary student entering school as she is a vegan who is forced to eat meat for the first time. It is a body-horror film of sorts yet one that plays into a young woman enduring this week-long hazing ritual that her older sister went through as she participates in hazing her sister as it also has some revelations about their own identities and why they’ve become attracted towards human flesh. It is an insane film but one that is definitely original as fans of body horror should see this.

© thevoid99 2021