WATCH THE WORLD

Our goal is to open up the world to everyone through film. Everyone should travel if they can (the world is amazing), but it costs time and money which we don't always have. That's where FilmRoot comes in. We bring the world of films to your couch, so you can travel wherever you want to without the flight fees.

Use our World Map to find the best films from each country, choose a continent below to explore the best films from each continent, or simply scroll down to see our latest posts featuring films from around the world. Or, if you're up for a challenge, work your way up to the top of our Film Difficulty Rankings to become a World Film expert.

Latest Posts

Asmaa (Egypt)

Asmaa Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Can you imagine a place where TV adverts about HIV/AIDS show scary images of bats, blood, drugs, and prostitutes? Well, you don’t have to. Egypt actually showed these adverts. In Asmaa director Amr Salama challenges the social prejudice towards HIV/AIDS suffers. Watch this film to learn about the limitations of being a HIV/AIDS patient and a woman in Egypt.

Why Watch Asmaa?

Follow the life of a woman with HIV battling against social prejudice in Egypt
Watch the film here on YouTube to start your adventure into Egyptian film
Experience a bit of life in Cairo and the country surrounding the capital

The Breakdown

First of all, it is important to know that there is a bit social stigma around the HIV positive in Egypt. The director, Amr Salama, states:

“In Egypt we think it’s a punishment from God and we should not treat it. We think that they get it from a sin so they deserve it, and we think it’s very contagious so we don’t deal with them in any way. So people die from that more than they die from anything else. “

Asmaa starts in a small HIV group, a bit like an alcoholics anonymous group. The director cuts between the group talking and scenes in a hospital. We find out that our protagonist Asmaa has HIV and was denied hospital treatment because of it.

Asmaa is a do it all mother. She looks after her father, her daughter, whilst working shifts at the airport. Through flash backs to her former life, we learn how she caught HIV and her former dreams. Her flashbacks are shown in golden colours which contrast with the dreary blue and grey filter that depicts her current life and her visits to the hospital. It is obvious she wishes to recapture the dreams of her early life with her former husband.

Conclusion

Asmaa is an important tale based on the true stories of many HIV/AIDS suffers that Salama met when filming a documentary before he filmed Asmaa. The film reveals the plight of women in Egypt as well as the social prejudice against HIV/AIDS patients. It challenges the controversial portrayal of HIV/AIDS in Egypt by putting you in the shoes of a strong woman coping with the disease.

The Handmaiden (South Korea)

The Handmaiden Film Difficulty Ranking: 2 Image result for the handmaiden poster

Did you think Gone Girl or Oldboy was good? Well here’s another thriller for you to figure out. The Handmaiden will keep you guessing throughout the film. What is being hidden from you? In addition you’ll witness some gorgeous set and costume design and a lot of nudity (probably not one to take your mum to see). If you have a chance to watch this in the cinema – don’t wait!

Why Watch The Handmaiden?

You want to see something thrilling and erotic
If you liked Gone Girl or any of Park-Chan wook’s earlier films (definitely check out his classic revenge thriller Oldboy)
To see colonial Korea recreated in costume and setting (the house is like the mansion in The Shining)
Do you want to find out what is in the basement?

The Breakdown

The Handmaiden starts with Sook-hee, a petty thief living with a family of con-artists in Japanese ruled Korea. Her prospects are pretty much non-existent. However, she is taken to become the maid of a wealthy Japanese lady living in a colonial palace in a remote part of the country.

We soon find out that one of her fellow con-artists, Count Fujiwara, has set her up to become Lady Hideko’s handmaiden. His goal is for her to help her seduce the rich heiress into marrying him and for them to split the profits. You should note how she acts throughout the first part of the film. Her character is at the center of a number of laughs. She is a target for the other maids, she storms through the house with shoes on, and gets scared on her first night in the mansion. The director, Park Chan-wook uses her role to play with us.

Park Chan-wook tells the story like piecing together a puzzle. Initially he gives us a decent idea of the story-line. We think we know what is going on until he places the next puzzle piece and changes what we see. He is a master of guise (just think how he tricks you in Oldboy). In addition, the characters hide a lot at the start and slowly reveal more and more as the film progresses. Park Chan-wook is a master of surprise.

Conclusion

The Handmaiden is another classic thriller from Park Chan-wook. If you like films with twists and turns (like the old M. Night Shyamalan films) you will love Park Chan-wook.

Kikujiro (Japan)

Click the poster to buy the DVD and open up Japan!

Kikujiro Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

Want to experience Japan without paying the expensive flight tickets? Then watch Kikujiro. You’ll travel the cities and country of Japan with little Masao and Kikujiro and do things that probably aren’t in the guide books, like betting on bike races and having fun at a local fair. You’ll also get a beautiful soundtrack from Joe Hisaishi to go with it all!

Why Watch Kikujiro?

If you like coming-of-age films or road trip movies! This one is inspired by The Wizard of Oz!
For some cool camera shots. Look out for one shot from the inside of a glass, and another shot from a car hub-cab.
For another Kitano classic (check out his gangster flick Hana-bi for something different)
It’s a postcard tour of Japan – watch this if you want to go to Japan!

The Breakdown

Kikujiro starts with a slow motion shot of a young boy running across a pedestrian bridge. He is smiling and is wearing a backpack with little wings attached to it. The camera follows him as he runs from one side of the bridge to the other.

The young boy, Masao, is described as a ‘gloomy kid.’ His parents left him when he was a baby and he has grown up with his grandmother ever since. You start to feel sorry for him as soon as his school finishes for the summer holidays. He runs home by himself, he lets himself into the house by himself, and eats a plate of food left for him on the table by himself. He’s all alone with no parents. The next morning, he walks to football practice but the instructor tells him that the session is cancelled because of the summer vacation. He plays by himself for a bit before going home. Poor Masao! He just wants a friend!

He doesn’t get a friend, but one of his grandmother’s friends (Kikujiro) reluctantly takes him to find his mum. Their journey takes us through a diverse range of life in Japan. First, Kikujiro takes Masao to the cycle races as a good luck totem for his betting. After he strikes a bit of luck, we are taken into a strip club and a Japanese diner. Later we are taken to a local fair, a hotel resort, and even end up at a bus stop in the country which is reminiscent of the bus stop in My Neighbour Totoro. Watch Kikujiro to experience Japan!

Conclusion

Just like The Wizard of Oz, Masao comes across a rabble of people from different walks of life. They all allow Masao to escape his loneliness for the summer holidays. Kikujiro shows the versatility of director Kitano as he ranges from Yakuza gangster film Hana-bi to this endearing coming-of-age film.

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Germany)

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

Buy this film by clicking on the Picture above!

Can you imagine a world 20 years after the fall of Hitler and the Nazis in which a former Nazi ended up in love with an Arab immigrant? Well you don’t have to, you just have to watch this film. You’ll experience racism, prejudice, and loneliness. The experience will hopefully be enough to help you feel the loneliness of life as an immigrant and to drop any prejudices you may have. The film is currently available to watch on YouTube (click on link).

Why Watch Ali: Fear Eats the Soul?

It will provoke a lot a debate! So much to talk about!
It is one of acclaimed German director, Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s masterpieces (it won awards at the prestigious Cannes film festival)
Experience racism and prejudice in Western Europe in the 1970s
See some excellent camerawork – partly discusses below

The Breakdown

Emmi, an old white German woman walks into a bar to get out of the pouring rain. The camera cuts 180 degrees to show a group of Arabs watching Emmi from the other end of the bar. Then the camera cuts back 180 degrees to show Emmi sit down at a seat closest to the door. The camera marks the distance between Emmi and the Arabs drinking at the other end of the bar. Will the distance between Emmi and the Arabs be broken?

One of the barmaids challenges Ali, one of the Arabs, to go and dance with the old woman. Not one to refuse a challenge, Ali crosses the race threshold and walks to the other end of the bar where Emmi is sitting. He asks her to dance, and she accepts! They both cross the threshold and walk past the other Arabs to a dance floor at the back of the bar. All of the bar’s clientele watch them in silence.

Through Emmi and Ali’s relationship we get to experience the horrible amount of racism and prejudice they face from shopkeepers, Emmi’s family, and the people she works and lives with. What stuck with me was the image of Emmi’s son-in-law (played by Fassbinder) sitting on the couch reading a newspaper. He is dressed shabbily, is skipping work, and threatens to hit his wife if she doesn’t go get him a beer. Whilst he is acting like a pig, he complains about all the Arab immigrants and refers to them as pigs. The best metaphor of hypocrisy.

Conlcusion and What to Watch Next

The camerawork and unlikely relationship make this film great. It will challenge your own prejudices. Amazingly there are still a load of remnants from the time of Hitler – Emmi even admits she was a Nazi just like everyone else living in Germany whilst he was in power. For an excellent film on race in Europe go watch this film!

For more films about immigration and the migrant experience check out:

Black Girl: Sembene’s classic about a Senegalese girl taken to France to work for a French family. It’s essential viewing and available on YouTube.
Sin Nombre (Amazon): A Central American thriller following one boy trying to flee the country to escape the notorious Mara gang
Paddington (Amazon): One Peruvian immigrant tries to fit in in the U.K.

Hana-bi (Japan)

Hana-bi Film Difficulty Ranking: 4

Ever heard of a Yakuza film? The Yakuza are the Japanese gangsters much like the Mafia in Italy or the Triads in China and Hong Kong. Intrigued? Hana-bi is a Yakuza film with more than the usual violence. You’ll meet a former cop who turns to the Yakuza for loans to help his dying wife. Watch the film to find out if he manages to pay of his debts whilst learning about his own life.

Why Watch Hana-bi?

It’s a sophisticated Yakuza film
To see one of the best gangsters on film in some kick-ass sunglasses!
Takeshi Kitano won the Golden Lion for this film, establishing him as one of Japan’s top film-makers
Kitano even painted all the paintings seen in this film!

The Breakdown

Hana-bi starts with Joe Hisaishi’s film score (he’s the guy that produced most of the sound of Studio Ghibli) playing over a few pictures of saints (which Kitano starts with in a few of his films). In the opening scene, two men in blue boiler suits are staring silently at a guy in a suit and sunglasses in a half empty parking lot. The soundtrack stops as one of the guys in blue slaps a wet cloth onto a car bonnet and starts cleaning. The guy in the suit watches him clean for a minute before kicking him off of the car.

The guy in the suit and sunglasses is Nishi, a violent former cop, and the main protagonist of this film. We learn about his past in his flashbacks. Nishi has segmented flashbacks to the same event multiple times throughout the opening 30 minutes, but the whole flash back is not shown until later in the film. Early on, it shows two people being shot multiple times on the floor. It is not clear who is shooting them or why they are being shot but it obviously pains Nishi. We learn that he was held responsible for their deaths and relieved of his job.

Without a job, Nishi spends most of his time with his wife who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. He brings her cakes and puzzles but they never talk. He obviously cares for his wife, but his dead pan face makes it appear like he is begrudgingly keeping her company. As stated by his former colleague ‘work is all they have ever known’ so this unexpected free time to spend with their wives and their hobbies is unfamiliar. Without work they are lost.

Conclusion

Hana-bi is a stripped down Yakuza (Japanese Gangster) film. Instead of focusing on violence and gangs, Kitano chooses to focus on the impact of retirement. Nishi and his colleague are both forced out of their police jobs because of a tragic accident. Both of them cannot forget the accident and both of them do not know what to do with their free time.