Ranking 1970s Foreign Oscar Winners
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Ranking 1970s Foreign Oscar Winners List
The seventies proved to be the worst decade when it comes to the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Most of these movies are either overrated or even not well regarded at all today and even dated. Only four of them are solid with six being weak or downright bad. Here is my ranking of all ten of these movies.
10. Amarcord
Loud, pretentious and pointless, Amarcord is one of the worst films from Fellini which really says a lot. It showcases all of his worst tendencies such as obsession with sex and vulgarity. Watching this movie seemed as if I was seeing a work that came from a teenager instead of an adult man how immature it is. It thus easily takes the last spot here.
9. Get Out Your Handkerchiefs
Pointless is the key word on this list as you will see it pop up many times later as well. This French film is just pointless as its characters learn absolutely nothing and all of the film was thus a waste of time. It is one of the worst menage a trois films which started promisingly, but became increasingly silly and sexist afterwards.
8. The Tin Drum
This is probably the most disappointing film on this list. I expected a good movie, but what I got was a mediocre, pointless story with extremely excessive runtime and an incredibly unlikable central character. Some scenes such as the beginning are very good, but the sex scene is not only unrealistic but also plain uncomfortable.
7. Day for Night
Day for Night is basically a French soap opera with way too many characters of which none are even remotely likable or memorable. The storyline is soapy and silly, most of the scenes are annoying and I just never cared for this film at all. It bored me to death and it truly is immensely overrated.
6. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
This is by far the most overrated film on this uninspired list. It is a typical Luis Bunuel film which relies very little on plot and makes no sense at all. Some scenes definitely did work and were interesting, but most are either annoying or pointless leading to a boring movie that is weird for the sake of being weird.
5. The Garden of the Finzi Continis
The Garden of the Finzi Continis is certainly well made and filmed, but it is easily the most forgettable movie on this entire list which really says a lot. The plot was never a material for a film at all, the characters are all very dull and the film is very boring leading to an undeserved Oscar winner.
4. Madame Rosa
The first solid film on this list is just solid and never great, but certainly not bad. Simone Signoret gave a powerhouse, memorable performance in a great role and some scenes are quite moving, but unfortunately most of the film was overly melodramatic and it deals with its subject matter in a very unsubtle manner.
3. Black and White in Color
This Ivorian film deals with a similar subject matter and again it executes it in a very unsubtle manner. The war scenes here are the highlights and the racism part was unsophisticated and the weaker one. This is not a great film, but it is perfectly solid with a couple of excellent and effective sequences.
2. Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion
This Italian film gives us a very interesting angle to a crime flick which I respected a lot. It’s original and very intriguing. It is technically not great, it has its unbelievable scenes and is overall a lot potential for greatness, but it’s still a very solid movie which has some interesting things to say.
1. Dersu Uzala
Quite familiar and most definitely overlong, Dersu Uzala is still a pretty good Japanese-Soviet co-production which benefits from a strong friendship at the core of the film. It is a slow film, but very well directed and especially well shot with excellent scenery, sound and atmosphere. I liked this film quite a bit and it easily takes the number one spot on this weak list even though it is far from great.
