British film magazine Empire is widely considered one of the best mainstream film magazines in circulation today. In 2010, writers for the magazine put together a list titled “The 100 Best Films of World Cinema.” For the record, world cinema is defined here as any and all non-English films. Now, I’m a film and media studies major at Wash. U. (We have a Film and Media Studies department?) Yeah, I watch movies for credit, and I know your major is harder than mine. I’ve seen a lot of movies, ranging from 1980s slasher films, to art cinema along the likes of François Truffaut and Terrence Malick, to the time in junior year of high school when I exclusively watched movies from the “List of films considered the worst” Wikipedia page. Hopefully I’ve gained something from all of this. This feature, in some ways, is as a way for me to see what I’ve learned and to share it with you loyal readers.
The premise of this feature is that, starting at #25 on the “Best Films of World Cinema,” I will watch every film until I get to #1. I will give my honest opinion and hopefully put some of the film knowledge that I’ve learned at Wash. U. to good use. Some of the films I have seen before, and I am expecting to revise my opinion of these films as I hopefully garner a greater understanding of their social and historical context. Others are films that I have actively avoided due to intimidating running times or general fanboy overenthusiasm. This will be an exercise in gaining a better understanding of the incredibly broad concept of “world cinema” as well as in trying to gain a better understanding of my nebulous taste in movies. Feel free to follow along with me on a weekly basis.
First up is Germany’s 1981 film Das Boot, a film that falls under the category of movies I have actively avoided. With a daunting running time of 209 minutes, this film is a marathon, to put it simply.