Ranking 1990s Foreign Oscar Winners
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Ranking 1990s Foreign Oscar Winners List
The nineties were unfortunately one of the worst decades when it comes to the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. This category was never great, but the 80s were an improvement. This was another downgrade though as many films here are far from classics today and only a couple are very good.
10. Character
This Dutch film is the worst on this list, though hardly a bad movie itself. It’s serviceable and memorable in its beginning and ending, but simply its mixing of the historical drama elements with the thriller elements interspersed only in those two sequences did not really work, and thus it was a failed experiment not deserving of any awards out there.
9. Belle Epoque
Now this Spanish farce can be a lot of fun and thus it succeeds as a breezy, light comedy that can be a good cinematic distraction for one evening. But still, this was a farcical soap opera typical for this country with many implausible and silly plot points. It’s difficult to see what the Academy saw in this one that was worthy of the award.
8. Indochine
And now we get to a big streak of movies which are just solid and serviceable without ever being great. This was the first such Oscar-bait which is sweet and charming with a potent performance from Catherine Deneuve, but it’s overlong, typical and one of those Oscar winners which favor style and spectacle over any meaningful substance.
7. Mediterraneo
Everything I said above also applies for this movie. It’s certainly good-natured, charming and quite endearing in a couple of sequences, but its slim plot and far from sophisticated handling of it really made for a hollow cinematic experience. How this beat ‘Raise the Red Lantern’ is beyond me.
6. Journey of Hope
Journey of Hope is pretty much a Turkish version of ‘Pelle the Conqueror’ meaning that it’s about the same subject matter (emigration and its hardships). Everything in it mostly worked and it was a less manipulative version of the aforementioned movie, but still it never managed to escape that familiarity and laziness that permeates through its every frame.
5. Life Is Beautiful
This is the most famous and most popular movie on this list and it’s solid enough with some charming and moving moments, good direction and a particularly memorable, great score, but it’s emotionally manipulative to a fault plus Roberto Benigni can be grating in the role. Neither Benigni nor his movie deserved their Oscars whatsoever.
4. Burnt by the Sun
Burnt by the Sun has many tender sequences as it’s truly an endearing film with a lot of heart. Nikita Mikhalkov is stupendous both as an actor and in the directorial chair. But this is another thinly plotted movie that is never great in any way. It should have never won over the great ‘Strawberry and Chocolate’.
3. Antonia’s Line
Antonia’s Line succeeds as a forceful, progressive and very interesting feminist film which gives us the female perspective on life so well through many interesting characters and their relationships. But it is so badly paced and filled with way too many characters that it ultimately turned out as a lost potential for greatness.
2. Kolya
Whereas most of this list’s movies are emotionally manipulative, Kolya most definitely earns that emotion as it’s more subtle and confident in its storytelling. The second act is a mess and it’s again an overlong movie, but it provides one truly memorable, technically effective and emotional experience that rightfully earned it the second placement here.
1. All About My Mother
This film’s storyline is not only thematically rich, but also constantly intriguing to follow. The character development is also simply outstanding. It has its minor flaws, but the characters are so damn likable and well developed and the movie overall is superbly acted and directed. It’s one of Pedro Almodovar’s finest movies and the one that is probably his most famous work. Thus it more than deserved its Oscar and it’s easily the winner for this frustratingly weak decade.
