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


Sand Storm

Image resultSand Storm Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

Want to learn a bit about modern Bedouin life in the Middle East? Well it doesn’t appear to be all rosy in Sand Storm. Explore a small village where gender roles are not always clear and rules are upheld out of habit. This is also your chance to start watching some films from Israel/Palestine. Be sure to check out the excellent Ajami and Omar after this!

Why Watch Sand Storm?
  • Following on from Ajami and Omar, here is another great film from Israel/Palestine (it’s currently available on Netflix)
  • To get a feel for life as a Bedouin, including a Bedouin wedding!
  • See the barren landscape of the Negev desert – it is reminiscent of the Kazakh desert shown in The Wounded Angel
  • Witness how different life is for men and women, and young and old
The Breakdown

Sand Storm starts with Layla driving a car along a dirt track through the Negev desert. Her father sits in the passenger seat and asks her what grades she got at school. She says she got 63, but her father does not believe her, and voices his disapproval. Despite this, she continues to drive until they reach their village where they switch seats. Because he let her drive and study, and is pretty laid back, the dad appears more liberal than we might expect.

The opening sets the scene for the rest of the film as gender roles are explored. Layla’s mother (Jalila) appears to be the complete opposite to her father. From the outset she is angered by her husband’s loose discipline their daughter. He lets the daughters do what they want, whereas she wants them to grow up to become strong wives.

However, whilst Jalila has some control of Layla, she has no control over little Tasnim. Unlike Layla, Tasnim does not help out with household chores, goes and hangs out with her father and friends, walks around town in trousers, and even gets away with standing on the kitchen counter. She always has the same excuse: “dad says I can”, which exasperates poor Jalila. In the context of the dad’s second wedding (which Jalila has to prepare) you start to sympathise with Jalila. Is her strictness  just her way of trying to protect her kids? After all, she has nothing else.

Conclusion

Sand Storm explores gender roles in Bedouin society. Are women free to do what they want or are they ultimately always in the hands of their fathers? Watch to find out and uncover what life is like in a remote town in the Negev desert.

The Wounded Angel

The Wounded Angel Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Image result for the wounded angel baigazinYou may have seen films from China and Europe, and even the Middle East, but have you seen a film from Kazakhstan? Here’s your chance to see something new. This is an excellent portrayal of Kazakhstan in the mid-90s. A country experiencing an economic and emotional depression after the split of the Soviet Union. Find out what life was like growing up in a remote town in Kazakhstan.

Why Watch The Wounded Angel?
  • To see a film from Kazakhstan!
  • Experience life in mid-90s Kazakhstan after the collapse of the U.S.S.R.
  • You like coming-of-age stories
  • See Kazakh singing in traditional dress and a currency with 3 Tenge notes
The Breakdown

“After the collapse of the USSR, in an effort to preserve the economy, the government cut off electric power every evening”

The film starts with 13 year old Zharas, a young boy living in a remote town in Kazakhstan. He pokes a hole in the top of an egg shell and drinks its contents raw while standing topless in a bare room. He starts shadow boxing before sitting down to make a knuckleduster out of molten metal and a simple mould. Next, he hops onto a train and smokes a cigarette by the door as the train moves through barren landscape.

The Wounded Angel, looks at four 13 year old Kazakh boys living in the same Kazakh town in the middle of a barren landscape. There is an emotional depression. None of the adults ever smile, grimace, or frown. Their permanently expressionless faces have rubbed off on their children who have grown up without emotion. As a result, without emotion, their childhood cannot exist, and they ae forced to become adults.

The fixed camera shots do not hint any change either. The lack of camera movement conveys stillness, therefore mirroring the lack of progress on film (the electricity cuts out, there is no employment, and no emotion).

Look out for the ‘through-the-window-frame’ (or keyhole) shots that appear in each of the four stories. Each one (apart from Toads) shows the character standing within a derelict house by an empty window frame. Each window is a window showing their fate:

  • Zharas: his father walks away, but he runs after him after finishing his cigarette
  • Chick: shows his friends beating up the two kids he didn’t want to fight
  • Toad: he climbs through a hole in the wall and meets a group of kids
  • Aslan: shows a half dead tree
Conclusion

The Wounded Angel is a fantastic depiction of a country in an emotional depression. This is a realist coming-of-age story that contrasts heavily with the nostalgic coming-of-age films that you are used to. Watch this if you are interested in watching something from the great Eurasian Steppe.

In Vanda’s Room

In Vanda’s Room Film Difficulty Ranking: 5

“Our country is the poorest, most pathetic of all”

The Lisbon that you will find here In Vanda’s Room is a Portugal you haven’t seen. It is a Portugal which resembles a third-world country. It will expose you to the city’s poorest residents that are all hidden away in the darkness, away from the eyes of tourists. Watch on for Lisbon’s realist version of Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting. Or, for something a little more upbeat, watch Aniki Bobo for your Portuguese film fix.

Why Watch In Vanda’s Room?
  • For an introduction to Pedro Costa and his critically acclaimed depictions of the marginalised people of Portugal
  • Meet some of the poorest people in Lisbon
  • It is currently available here on YouTube
  • Who needs a front door when you have a window?
The Breakdown

The film begins in Vanda’s room, where Vanda and her friend are sitting on a bed smoking heroin. The room is very dark, but you can make out the dirty green walls behind them and the layers of dark blankets covering the bed they sit on. Vanda inhales some smoke and coughs violently until her throat is cleared. She then viciously wipes her mouth on her sleeve. The lack of light, coughing fits, and drug addicts aren’t what you think of when you think of Lisbon. But Costa has a knack for revealing the hidden people of Portugal.

The next scene shows someone washing themself with a bucket of water in a dark derelict house. Bits of furniture and mess are cluttered around the place and there is still no sign of sunlight. Our first shot outside matches the mess inside the buildings as puddles mark the unpaved streets. A BBQ with a few pieces of wood burns to provide some light for the street which daylight does not seem to reach.

In this neighbourhood there is nothing to do. Vanda sells cabbages and another character tends parked cars, but otherwise there is no sign of business. So the character’s we see are usually hidden away in the dark and out of sight. Is this the life they’ve chosen or the life that they have been forced to live? That is a question that Costa looks to us to decide. However, they cannot prevent the bulldozers that are tearing down their neighbourhood. These bulldozers shed light on Lisbon’s poverty stricken residents, just as his film reveals their existence.

Conclusion

In Vanda’s Room is a solemn portrayal of Lisbon’s poorest residents. As a docufiction, this film does not show any bias towards or against the drug addicts who await eviction. Costa’s role is to reveal their existence for us to make our own judgement.

For more Portuguese film, check out Tabu for an alternative depiction of Lisbon (and the old Portuguese colonies in Africa).

Portrait

Portrait Film Difficulty Ranking: 4

Image result for portrait loznitsaAnother long day at work? Take a 30 minute break and watch the calming, Zen like images of Loznitsa’s Portrait. It’s a collection of portraits of people living in the snow draped countryside of old Soviet Russia. The pictures are eerie, soothing remnants of a time gone. There are no signs of technology here so hide your smart phone screen and transport yourself to another place.

Why Watch Portrait?
  • You’ve seen Ansel Adams’ photos of depression era U.S. and want to see a collection of eerie moving images of Russia from the same time
  • To see how ordinary folk lived in Soviet Russia
  • For a bit of calm in your hectic routine
  • It’s only 28 minutes long, and you it’s currently here on YouTube
The Breakdown

Grey clouds move across a grey sky above a barren field. The first image is of a man holding a knapsack with a train and electricity pylons in the background. Snow covers the ground and the immobile train. The electricity pylons show no signs of life where this man lives. The second image is of a man in layers of winter gear. His coat wavers in the wind. The only things in the background are a few small sheds and a couple of snow laden trees.

In the Soviet countryside there are signs of progress but there is no evidence of it serving the people on camera. Instead the stationary trains and electricity pylons depict unfulfilled promises of advancement that ignored the rural people. Just like the affected people in Ansel Adams’ pictures of post-depression America, Loznitsa’s film documents the lack of progress for rural Soviet Russia.

Unlike Adams’ pictures, Loznitsa’s images move in the wind. The historic images are alive, but are also frozen in time. It is as if we have stepped out of a time travel machine to find all the people staring at us, like the birds in Hitchcock’s thriller. But there will be no jump in this documentary, just a collection of eerie images. The people have become part of the landscape and have become weathered along side it. Only the wind moves, carrying time with it.

Conclusion

Loznitsa’s Portrait is almost Zen-like film that documents a way of life frozen in time. Whilst signs of progress appear in the background, it has not touched the people of the Soviet countryside. They are statues of a life that will not be changed. They are statues captured in film. To transport yourself away from your routine, take 30 minutes out to watch Potrait.

This film can be found here on Youtube

 

Battle In Heaven

Battle in Heaven Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

This film is provocatively shocking! Even more so than the most shocking scenes of Heli or Y Tu Mama Tambien. If you’re not a fan of provocative images then this might not be for you. But if you can handle it, watch on, and see Mexico City. Witness the power structures, class divides, religion, and football.

Why Watch Battle in Heaven?
  • For something very provocative, like a lot of Mexican films!
  • To see Mexico City: the streets, the people, the shops, the rich neighbourhoods, and more
  • Big juxtapositions: Ugliness vs. Beauty, Rich vs. Poor, Powerful vs. Weak
  • For a pretty cool soundtrack (which often ends up distracting Carlos)
The Breakdown

In one of the most controversial openings of a film ever, the film opens with a close up of Carlos’ chubby face. He is middle aged, bearded, has dishevelled hair, and wears big glasses. He is not attractive. The camera then slowly pans down his naked body, showing us his man boobs and huge belly. However instead of showing us his penis, we see the back of a female head with matted hair. Just in case it is not obvious what she is doing, the camera cuts to the side, showing her young face sucking the penis of this fat, middle aged man.

It is not the oral sex that is that is the most shocking part of the introduction but the pairing of the old man with the young woman. These two people should not be together. However, Reygadas later challenges our prejudices when he shows the naked bodies of Carlos and his even more chubby wife. Their paired naked bodies are even more repulsive than the opening scene, even though their pairing is way more normal. Provocation is a theme of Battle in Heaven, and Reygadas shows us shocking images of things that are wrong, and things that are not wrong, but equally shocking.

Outside of the provocation, Battle in Heaven portrays Mexico City well. Reygadas shows us the streets, the stall run by Carlos’ wife, and the rich neighbourhoods and the city centre. He also depicts two of the biggest things that constitute Mexico: Religion and Football. Firstly, there are a lot of football fanatics. The chief police inspector is wearing a football shirt, there’s an entire scene at a football game, and the Pumas win the Championship. Secondly, religion dominants the mise-en-scene (the setting) throughout. There are plenty of religious icons and pictures in all the houses (although not Ana’s house), there is a religious march of pilgrims, and we are shown the real image of La Virgen in the most visited Catholic pilgrimage site in the world.

Conclusion

Battle in Heaven is dominated by some controversial film that, on one hand, challenge us, but on the other, might put you of from watching on. If you can look past the provocation, and the relatively bare plot, Reygadas’ film is a well thought out portrait of Mexico City. It is an opportunity to see what drives the city (football and religion), the rich/poor divide, the power structures (military and police), whilst watching city life.