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| Sandra Huller in Toni Erdmann, nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. |
Welcome to Last Cinema Standing’s Countdown to the
Oscars, our daily look at this year’s Academy Awards race. Be sure to check
back every day leading up to the ceremony for analysis of each of the Academy’s
24 categories and more.
Best Foreign Language Film
The nominees are:
Land of Mine
A Man Called Ove
The Salesman
Tanna
Toni Erdmann
At the core of all these films is forgiveness. Land of Mine asks if we can forgive the
most horrific crimes against humanity in order to keep a piece of ours. A Man Called Ove asks if we can forgive
a world that has treated us unfairly and snatched away the only thing we cared
about. The Salesman asks if we can
forgive the man who harmed our family when vengeance is within our grasp. Tanna asks if we can forgive a
generations-old grudge and forge a new future with our most hated adversaries. Toni Erdmann asks if we can forgive our
parents for their faults and recognize them as just as human as we are.
This is a group of five wonderful films with a lot to say
about the world in which we live. Their stories are not only about forgiveness
but about sexism, abuse of power, tolerance, prejudice, hope, healing, love,
humanity, decency, and so much more. Yet, when one looks at the world today and
sees the direction in which things are headed, it perhaps does not seem so bad
to focus, just a little extra, on forgiveness. That may be the only way to make
it out of these times with our own decency intact.
The Salesman (directed by Asghar Farhadi) – The elephant in the
room is that of the Elephant Party and its racist, un-American, and inhumane
travel ban. The current presidential administration’s ban on travelers from
seven of this world’s nations includes Iranian filmmaker Farhadi, as well as
his cast and crew (one of the lead performers in A Man Called Ove also would be banned). The administration deigned
to offer the director a waiver to allow him into their country – which is not
their country, by the way – but Mr. Farhadi’s dignity is not for sale, and he
will not be attending the ceremony. My understanding is the other filmmakers in
this category convened to discuss a gesture of support for their absent
comrade, and to that I say bravo.
Outside the context of world events, The Salesman is an excellent psychological thriller that refuses
ever to do the obvious thing. It zigs where one expects it to zag, and
ultimately, the film, which starts off about the quest for vengeance, becomes a
parable about the power and necessity of forgiveness. Now put that story in the
context of world events and see where you stand.
This is just Iran’s third film to compete in this category
and the second by Farhadi, who won this award in 2011 for A Separation. He is not only a great Iranian filmmaker but a master
of the form in any language. This would be a deserving winner in any year, but
in the political context of this nation, right now, to award a film this
universal and this human, I can think of no better protest.
Toni Erdmann (directed
by Maren Ade) – The prohibitive frontrunner for this award, Toni Erdmann is an epic built on its
smallest moments. Writer-director Ade crafts a film of quiet elegance that is
also downright hilarious, exploring the relationship between a woman trying to
navigate the world of international business and her prankster father who just
wants her to live her life a little. The film has a lot to say in its
three-hour runtime about sexism in the workplace, as well as ethically murky
business practices, and it takes these subjects very seriously. However, it is
also a heartwarming father-daughter comedy punctuated by some of the funniest
gags you will see in any movie this year.
The lead performances by Sandra Hüller as the daughter and Peter
Simonischek as the father are magnificent, and it is a treat to watch them
gingerly navigate a relationship both need but of which both are wary. This is
a film that loves its props and visual gags, but apart from being laugh-out-loud
funny, those gags serve as a way to chart the relationship between the two
characters. I can assure you never before have comedy fake teeth been used to
generate more genuine emotion than in this film.
Germany’s Oscar history is muddled by the time a dangerously
psychotic world leader built a wall. … I’ll just let that hang there for a
moment. … West Germany scored eight nominations in this category, while East
Germany was also cited once. Since the reunification, German filmmakers have
been nominated another 10 times, bringing the total to 19, which would tie with
Spain for third-most all time behind Italy and France. Florian Henckel von
Donnersmarck’s The Lives of Others
was the most recent German winner, and there is a strong chance Ade will be the
next.
A Man Called Ove (directed by Hannes Holm) – If any of these
films can be called crowd-pleasing, this would be it, and by the standards of
this category, it is a blockbuster. With $3.4 million in box-office receipts,
it made more than double what the other four nominees have earned combined (at
the time of this writing). Though three of the other films remain in theaters,
it is likely this will remain top dog from a financial standpoint. When it
comes to awards and the Academy in particular, financial success is never a bad
thing for two reasons: First, voters like to reward success, and second, it
means more people are likely to have seen your movie.
Holm’s direction is crisp and breezy, telling the story of
Ove (Rolf Lassgård), who bitterly shuts out the world after the death of
his wife but slowly allows himself to be drawn into a community. Like others of
its ilk, particularly those films coming out of Sweden, it walks a thin line
between comedy and drama, often refusing to distinguish between the two. Like
Roy Andersson’s A Pigeon Sat on a Branch
Reflecting on Existence and Felix Herngren’s The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared –
though not so cumbersomely titled – A Man
Called Ove finds humor in the tragedy of life and tragedy in the hilarity
of it.
As a nation, Sweden resides comfortably alongside Italy,
France, Japan, and Spain in the top five of most wins, most nominations, and
most submissions in the Foreign Language category. From 15 nominations, Swedish
filmmakers have picked up this award three times. Actually, strike that. One
Swedish filmmaker has picked up this award three times – the great Ingmar
Bergman. Bergman is the only Swedish director to earn the gold here, and it is
an understandably high bar for any other Swedish filmmaker to clear. Holm has a
very real opportunity to do just that this year.
Tanna (directed by Martin Butler and Bentley Dean) – Set
against the backdrop of a remote South Pacific Island, lush with rainforest and
dominated by an active volcano, Tanna
is a classical Shakespearean drama brought to life in a richly detailed,
authentically felt new way. Two warring tribes forge a fragile peace and agree
to exchange brides. However, one of the girls offered, Wawa (Marie Wawa), runs
off with her lover, Dain (Mungau Dain), and the young couple is hunted by both
tribes.
The story of the film is ostensibly true, and members of the
Yakel tribe, to which Wawa and Dain belong, are asked to tell it in their own
words (using the native Nauvhal language). If there are elements of Romeo and Juliet in here, then there,
too, are elements of tribal ritual, mysticism, and natural communion. Butler
and Dean pull all of these elements together to bring to light a story of
tolerance, peace, and forgiveness, the roots of which apply to all peoples the
world over.
This is the first Australian film to be nominated for Best
Foreign Language Film, and the filmmakers deserve credit for not imposing an
imperial or western point of view on the film. It may be an Australian
production – and kudos to the Australian committee for submitting to the
Academy such a beautiful film about an underrepresented population – but this
film belongs to the Yakel tribe and the people of Vanuatu who make the story
sing. They bring truth, energy, and intensity to a story as old as storytelling
itself.
Land of Mine (Martin Zandvliet) – Harrowing is perhaps the only
apt descriptor for this film about German POWs forced to remove the landmines
from Danish beaches. The beauty of Land
of Mine, which Zandvliet wrote and directed, is that it operates on both a
purely visceral level and a resolutely intellectual one. It is a nerve-fraying
experience to watch young boys uncover and disarm landmines buried in the sand,
and Zandvliet rings every ounce of tension out of the situation. However, this
is not the filmmaker’s only goal, and had it been, Land of Mine would not be half the movie it is.
The layers of guilt and blame and horror and pain stack one
on top of the other throughout this film. There is never a question what we are
witnessing is cruel and unusual punishment at least, a war crime at worst. Make no mistake, these are captured Nazi
soldiers, perpetrators and defenders of a system of unspeakable evils, but they
are also teenage boys who cry out for their mothers and just want to go home.
Nazism is one of the worst horrors ever visited upon
humanity, and to their captors, these boys represent that horror, no matter how
small or large a hand they may have played in it. Rightly or wrongly, these
boys will pay for their nation’s crimes against humanity, but to do so, their
punishers must forfeit their own humanity. Yet I am in no position to judge,
and if I am ever called upon to answer for the crimes of my country, I may
think it unfair, but I will not be at a loss to understand the motivation.
Denmark has a solid history with the Oscars, scoring three
wins from 12 nominations, and its recent history is even better. The Danes have
landed a nominee in this category six times in the past 11 years and four of
the past five. The most recent winner was Susanne Bier in 2010 for In a Better World. Land of Mine is an unquestionably difficult sit, and as evidenced
by its paltry box-office take, it seems audiences are of wary of it. I won’t
say they needn’t be, but its virtues are so great and its message so important
it demands to be seen anyway.
The final analysis
On general acclaim and critical success, Toni Erdmann seems like the most likely
winner. Out of last year’s Cannes Film Festival, it was the talk of the town
and remained that way month after month. Ade even picked up a number of Best
Director mentions on the critics awards circuit. The film is both entertaining
and intelligent and would make a handsome winner.
Here, however, I will go against the consensus. Oscar
ballots only reached voters hands in the last week, and the zeitgeist film of
the moment is The Salesman, given its
relevance to world events. That newsiness will almost certainly put more voters
in seats to see the film – whether in theaters or at home on screener – and
once they see it, its power will be hard to deny. If you are trying to win an
Oscar pool, Toni Erdmann is the safe
bet, but my gut tells me the Academy will see fit to honor the Iranian master
Farhadi, both for his wonderful film and for what that honor would mean.
Will win: The
Salesman
Should win: Land
of Mine
Should have been
here: The Handmaiden
Tomorrow: Best Live
Action Short
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