On May 4th, President Trump posted on Truth Social that he wants to put a 100% tariff on all movies that are produced outside the United States and imported into America. His reasoning for doing so, in his own words, was that the “movie industry in America is dying a very fast death”. While it is highly unlikely that he will actually see this through, I took the opportunity to look at the last few years’ Best International Feature Film Oscar winners and choose three to watch.
2023 – All Quiet on the Western Front
A classic war movie. This film takes place in Germany in 1917. The main character, Paul, and his three friends enlist in the war. They are quickly thrown into the battlefield, young and with no knowledge of war. One of Paul’s friends, Ludwig, dies in their first encounter with the French as a result of their bunker caving in. From here, the movie jumps 18 months later. Paul and Kat, an older soldier and leader of the group, turn to stealing from a local farmhouse for food due to the lack of supplies. The French and German forces begin to meet in order to negotiate a ceasefire. The French put forward their terms and give the Germans 72 hours to agree. Meanwhile, our main characters have their second on-screen encounter with the French. The climax of this scene is when several French-owned tanks roll onto the battlefield against the undersupplied and underprepared German army. Their men are slaughtered, and Paul loses his two remaining friends in battle. The most heartbreaking scene in the film, in my opinion, occurs at the end of this battle. Paul falls into a pit and is unable to climb out of it without likely being shot dead. He plays dead for a moment before a French soldier comes up and is about to shoot him. They end up together in the pit, with Paul charging towards the man and stabbing him multiple times in the chest. This is the first time Paul is forced to see the consequences of his actions. The soldier dies slowly, and after the panic fades, Paul attempts to save him. Despite the effort, the man dies, and Paul discovers photos of his wife and kids inside his coat. After this battle, the Germans sign the agreement for peace, which was set to go into effect later that day. Paul and Kat, having survived the battle, go back to the farmhouse they stole from earlier in the film for some reason. This results in the dumbest scene in the whole movie. After stealing a single egg, Kat walks deep into the forest to urinate and is shot by the farmers’ son, leading to his death. The final scene shows Paul saving a young and inexperienced recruit, much like he was, from certain death. In this rescue, he dies. Unsurprisingly, all the main characters in this film die, showing that war is unforgiving.
2021 – Another Round
My favorite of the three. This movie is about four boring, middle-aged high school teachers going through a midlife crisis. Their solution to this? Therapy and medication. Not really, it’s alcohol. Under the guise of conducting a “social experiment” that tests the theory that consuming slight amounts of alcohol every morning will make you less anxious and more open, the four men secretly begin to drink every day during the day. The first few days, the experiment goes well, and each of the men feeling slightly more sociable. Due to the positive effects they experienced, they decide to up the dosage to see what the outcome would be. Martin, the main character, is the first to try it. He comes to school, unfocused and slightly disoriented, but he ends up teaching a great and energetic class, impressing his students who previously did not think much of him. His friends follow suit after seeing his success. At this amount of alcohol consumption, Martin plans a family vacation for himself, his wife, and his two sons. The trip goes well, and a long dispelled flame is resparked with his wife. Even more encouraged by this experiment, they take it even further to the point of getting completely wasted. One of the friends, Nikolaj, comes home in this state to his wife and two kids. She takes the children and goes to stay with her sister. Martin passes out in the street on the walk home and has to be carried home by his son. After awakening, he is confronted by his family as well. In this confrontation, his wife reveals that she cheated on him prior to the beginning of the experiment. These consequences cause the group to abandon the experiment. Months later, Martin seeks forgiveness from his wife but is rejected, and it is revealed that one of the friends, Tommy, couldn’t stop drinking and became an alcoholic as a result of the experiment. He is fired from his job and later, when out on his boat, commits suicide. After his funeral, the group of friends have dinner and drinks together. At the dinner, Martin receives a text from his wife saying that she, too, misses him. They run into their high school graduates, and join in their celebrations, dancing and having drinks. While the message is supposed to be that not everything is what it seems, and what works for some won’t work for all, I did find the final scene being Martin jumping into the water drunk after attending a funeral for his alcholic friend who committed suicide while out on the water, to be particularly ironic
2019 – Roma
A beautiful film about loss and found family, this movie follows Cleo, a maid to a wealthy family. It opens with Cleo cleaning the house before the arrival of the “man of the house”, Antonio. His stay is short-lived; after insulting Cleo’s ability to properly clean the home, he takes off on a supposed business trip. Cleo goes with her friends to the movies, but sneaks off with Fermin, a boy she is sweet on. Later, she tells Fermin that she is late and suspects that she is pregnant. He pretends to go use the bathroom and abandons her, cutting off communication with her. She goes to her employer, Sofia, to tell her that she is pregnant. Rather than firing her, Sofia takes her to see a doctor and be examined. Throughout the movie, we see Cleo’s close relationship with the children. Singing them to sleep, watching movies with them, and even being included in family vacations. As Cleo becomes closer to her due date, she goes to a store to purchase a crib. Outside the store, students protested for democracy and against oppression and dictatorship. Men disguised as civilians went into the protest armed and killed several people. A group of these men come into the store, one of them Cleo recognizes as being Fermin. In the shock, her water breaks, and after suffering in traffic, she is taken to the hospital. When she is examined, the doctors realize they cannot hear her baby’s heartbeat, so they take her to the surgery room where she delivers her baby. Beside her bed, they attempt to resuscitate the baby, but heartbreakingly, it was born dead. Sobbing, she holds the baby in her arms before it is taken away and wrapped up. In her depression, Cleo barely talks. It is revealed that Antonio had an affair and wishes for his belongings back. At the beach, two of the kids go too far out into the sea. Despite not knowing how to swim, Cleo rushes into the waves to rescue them. She takes them into her arms and swims back to shore. The kids tell Sofia that Cleo saved them, and Cleo begins to weep. She confesses her guilt and that she did not want her baby. The family hugs her and tells her they love her. At that moment, she is their family, and not their maid. The ending is not a typical good ending. Things just return to how they were, with a few changes. There is a sense of normalcy. Maybe the good ending is the return of low tides after rogue waves.
Spring 2026 
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