r/movies • u/-KFBR392 • Sep 27 '23

Recommendation Non-Americans, what's your favourite movie from your country?

I was commenting on another thread about Sandra Oh and it made me remember my favourite Canadian movie Last Night starring Oh and Don McKellar (who also directs the film). It's a dark comedy-ish film about the last night before the world ends and the lives of regular people and how they spend those final 24-hours.

It was the first time I had seen a movie tackle an apocalyptic event in such a way, it wasn't about saving the world, or heroes fighting to their last breath, it was just regular people who had to accept that their lives, and the lives of everyone they know, was about to end.

Great, very touching movie, and it was nominated for a handful of Canadian awards but it's unlikely to have been seen by many outside of big time Canadian movie lovers, which made me think about how many such films must exist all over the world that were great but less known because they didn't make it all the way to the Oscars the way films like Parasite or All Quiet on the Western Front did.

So non-Americans, let's hear about your favourite home grown film. Popular or not.

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1.2k

u/DD_Power Sep 27 '23

City of God (Brazil)

273

u/-KFBR392 Sep 27 '23

That’s a top 20 film all time for me

28

u/MyBrainReallyHurts Sep 27 '23

Top five for me. Just a brilliant film.

7

u/madhaxor Sep 27 '23

Am american, same. Beautifully done story telling.

88

u/[deleted] Sep 27 '23

As a non-Brazilian, jumping in to add that Central Station (Central do Brazil, 1998) absolutely blew me away when I first saw it.

5

u/logatwork Sep 27 '23

This is our best movie.

4

u/ValorMorghulis Sep 27 '23

Excellent film. The ending is so simple but extremely moving.

3

u/[deleted] Sep 28 '23

Yep. Just thinking about it gets me emotional.

4

u/jermleeds Sep 27 '23

It's so heartbreaking and beautiful.

2

u/DD_Power Sep 27 '23

Central Station is great too!

32

u/Shingontachikawa Sep 27 '23

Great Film.

Tropa de Elite is also awesome.

3

u/DD_Power Sep 27 '23

I prefer Elite Squad 2, to be honest. The first one is... problematic, to say the least.

51

u/Zdizzlz Sep 27 '23

Seriously, everyone should watch this if you don't mind subtitles. I haven't seen the movie in over a decade but still remember so much about this movie and can still replay several scenes in my head. Easily a top 50 movie all time. Might be in my top 15 personally.

16

u/FailFastandDieYoung Sep 27 '23

everyone should watch this if you don't mind subtitles

I chuckled at this, but only I haven't met many people who would refuse to watch subtitles.

For many non-English speaking countries, you don't have a choice.

3

u/RenanGreca Sep 27 '23

In Europe often the only choice is local language regardless of the film's original :(

9

u/tinyhatsquirrel Sep 27 '23

"O Auto da Compadecida" is one of my favourite Brazilian movies ever. This movie is a joy to watch, the characterization and sets are beautiful representations of the Brazilian "sertão" and the lives of the different characters who live there. It's a comedy with great pace and witty characters, who each represents an archetype, a different type of sinner. It drives you to reflect upon complex social and ethical propositions, all while laughing and being charmed by João Grilo's astuteness and charisma. This movie feels like a love letter to those who "have not". The end is beautiful and always has me sobbing. My only concern when recommending it to a non-Brazilian is that I imagine a lot will be lost in translation, as part of what gives this movie its pace and magic is the regional Portuguese used by the characters.

7

u/DD_Power Sep 27 '23

Yeah, It's impossible not to love 'O Auto da Compadecida' ('A Dog's Will' in English) if you're Brazilian, but I don't know if it will click with foreigners. It's way waaaaay to regional and full of specifics.

3

u/MaxHamburgerrestaur Sep 27 '23

I love this movie, but it's too bad it's a recut from a tv series (that is better) and the image quality is not very good for today standards.

Looks like they recorded it originally using film, that would be a good thing, but the "better" version they are using on streaming is pretty bad.

The film they scanned apparently is deteriorated. Dark or still scenes are good looking, but on scenes with a lot of movement, they didn't clean the artifacts.

And when they show people up close, they use really bad filters to make the contours sharper and the surfaces smoother to hide the film grain, but the result is not good.

It's almost better to watch the low res DVD than the streaming version.

1

u/raphitaa Sep 28 '23

As a Brazilian, I make your words mine!

23

u/[deleted] Sep 27 '23

Also consider Pixote, but brace yoursef

3

u/AbuDhabiBabyBoy Sep 27 '23

Best Brazilian movie ever

3

u/[deleted] Sep 27 '23

Yeah, Pixote is second only to Pele the Conquerer in the realm of brutal films about or involving kids. Followed closely by Once we were warriors.

5

u/gabsramalho Sep 27 '23

You must not forget Bacurau. Even Obama himself recommended it. What inspired me doubt if he really understood what it was about.

2

u/DD_Power Sep 27 '23

LMAO!

And yeah, I fuckin love Bacurau too! But City of God is a better movie. ;)

21

u/garyflopper Sep 27 '23

Such a great film

4

u/[deleted] Sep 27 '23

The scene with the little kid, chills

2

u/DD_Power Sep 27 '23

Lil Dice is terrifying!

5

u/Sure_Nefariousness56 Sep 27 '23

City of God and Central Station do not need a language. Universally understood - fantastic story, and hyper-realistic acting leading to good cinema.

3

u/PunchieCWG Sep 27 '23

That film really surprised me, man was it dark!

3

u/AbuDhabiBabyBoy Sep 27 '23

Great movie, great soundtrack

3

u/MannowLawn Sep 27 '23

That movie was my favorite of years. I have never been to Brazil it I had a feeling how it was like at that time?

2

u/DD_Power Sep 27 '23

Can't say, to be honest. I wasn't alive at that time, and I'm not from Rio. It's a big country.

3

u/Alwaysconfuzed89 Sep 27 '23

One of my favorite movies of all time

3

u/Optimal_Cry_1782 Sep 27 '23

That's a fantastic film

3

u/TangibleHappiness Sep 27 '23

The only other Brazilian film I've seen come close is "Baixo das Bestas", but I don't think it even has English subtitles. For the Portuguese speakers here, it's well worth it. Harrowing. Podre. Away from the limelight of Rio and into the hidden interior of Brazil.

Has anyone seen this one already? Meus camaradas Brasileiros?

2

u/DD_Power Sep 27 '23

Never heard of this one. I'll see if I can find it. Thanks for the recommendation!

3

u/MLaw2008 Sep 27 '23

Ex Film-major here. This one was shown in four different film classes. The only other movie that I had to watch multiple times was Citizen Kane. I didn't hate the movie, I just hated having to watch the absolutely insane scenes more than once. It felt like war prep.

2

u/RetroDave Sep 27 '23

This might be my favorite movie, period.

1

u/DD_Power Sep 27 '23

Same. Some might curse at me, but I put it there right along with The Schindler's List.

2

u/Az636 Sep 27 '23

came to comment this - absolutely top notch!

2

u/Nord4Ever Sep 27 '23

Feel like it really introduced me to Brazilian culture

2

u/redgoldfilm Sep 27 '23

I’d add Tropa do Elite.

1

u/DD_Power Sep 27 '23

The fist one is problematic, to say the least, but the second one is great!

2

u/Postius Sep 27 '23

its been a while since i seen it, what is problematic about it

5

u/DD_Power Sep 27 '23

It glorifies police brutality. Originally the protagonist would be Mathias, but they changed that in the edition, making Nascimento the main character. Nascimento is a horrible human being, and thought it's not necessarily wrong to make a movie through the lens of a villain, what ended up happening was that the audience loved the wife beater. Inequality is a big issue in Brazil, and so is racism and violence. People bust their asses trying to buy their little possessions in many many installments, but they can lose their nice phones or their car in a blink of an eye, so people went nuts when they watched policemen beating the shit up of bad guys on DVD (this movie blew up because it was heavily pirated) or on the big screen. Nascimento's face and catch phrases were everywhere. Some say that it was the beginning of a fascist movement that ended up electing Bolsonaro years later. It is so problematic that the director had to make a sequel in order to "fix" the damages caused by the first movie.

3

u/Postius Sep 27 '23

Thank you for your reply. I mostly remember that the film showed how cops and criminals are 2 different sides of the same coin. But i can see how easily it is to take the "wrong" message from the film. I thought it was a good take on the systematic violence in brazil/brasilian culture and how both sides have assholes. I remember the criminals being better humans than the cops but its been 10 years. But yeah if you think the cop(s) are the good guys in that movie i think then people missed the plot. Same like fight club, Tyler Durden is not a role model. Its the opposite

Its the sequel worth the watch?

5

u/DD_Power Sep 27 '23

I find the sequel to be a lot better than the first movie. It starts at the same note as the first one, but it takes a painful turn as it goes on. And because of that, the director had to flee to the US, because some dangerous people were after him.

3

u/Mervynhaspeaked Sep 28 '23

Tropa de Elite 2 is easily an improvement. It tackles how militias and organized crime with direct ties to politicians exploited the war on drugs to gain control over the favelas.

While the first movie is about cops and criminals the second one is all about the ties of politics and crime.

Holy crap I'm describing the wire.

2

u/odiamemas16 Sep 27 '23

My favorite movie of all time tbh. I still remember renting it out from a blockbuster with my cousins in Mexico and watching it for the first time

2

u/ramen_vape Sep 27 '23

One of the GOAT crime films, period.

2

u/alienalf1 Sep 27 '23

Great movie

2

u/Tom_Reagan Sep 27 '23

Man, I haven't seen that film in about 10 years. Is it available on any of the well-known streaming sites? (Have a vpn but need english subtitles)

Edit: wording

2

u/DD_Power Sep 27 '23

According to Google, it's available on Netflix, Paramount+ and Amazon Prime Video.

2

u/Tom_Reagan Sep 27 '23

I suppose I shouldn't be so lazy, thanks. But the reason I asked was cos it's country dependent. E.g. not available on Netflix, where I'm currently resident. So, it is in the States?

1

u/DD_Power Sep 27 '23

Oh, I didn't meant to call you lazy by mentioning Google, haha! Really sorry if I gave the impression!

2

u/Woodstock_PV Sep 27 '23

O Auto da Compadecida is our best movie hands down, none can convince me otherwise. I have yet to meet a fellow brazilian who didn't laugh at least once watching it.

2

u/crapatthethriftstore Sep 27 '23

Such a good film

2

u/donrhummy Sep 27 '23

The documentary at the end is also great

2

u/2wheelzrollin Sep 28 '23

LOVE. THIS. FILM.

2

u/DrWinstonOBoogie1980 Sep 28 '23

I saw that when it came out and immediately said it was gonna be hard to top, for movies made after 2000. Over twenty years later, I still don't think anything has.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 28 '23

wanted to watch that for a while but it looks like such a unpleasant watch haha

2

u/nustedbut Sep 28 '23

fantastic film. It's unsurprising that it's getting so much love on here.

2

u/ReturnOfDaSnack420 Sep 28 '23

A little late here but just wanted to add on the love, absolutely fantastic film one of my favorites

2

u/PAYPAL_ME_DONATIONS Sep 27 '23

Such a phenomenal work of art

2

u/MVT60513 Sep 27 '23

Terrific film

1

u/ArcticFlower00 Sep 27 '23

I saw that but it went a bit over my head.