My Top 10, See these movies!

Amelie- The story of a shy and quirky French girl who embarks on a quest to make people happy. She learns a lot about herself in the process. This is just a beautiful film and an interesting story. It's in French, so expect subtitles. Actually,
most of my top ten are foreign films because apparently Hollywood doesn't make good movies anymore.


Children of Heaven- This is a beautiful story about a little boy in Iran who loses his sister's shoes and then decides to share his with her so that they can both go to school. They make a kind of weird relay where he runs from school to give her the shoes and then she runs to school. It's just very simple and sweet. In Farsi with subtitles. Broaden your mind, learn new languages!


The Terrorist- This is loosely based on the true story of Thenmuli Rajaratnam (also known as Dhanu), who assassinated Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. It gets into the mind of a woman suicide bomber fighting with the Tamil Tigers and grants a humanizing look to the motivations behind someone who would do such an atrocious act. It also has beautiful cinematography. In Tamil with subtitles.

Hotel Rwanda- This movie displays in vivid detail the horrors of the conflict between the Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda and the bravery of one man who worked very hard to save as many people as he could. This is an important film becuase so few Americans actually know about this, one of the worst genocides of all times. And this one is in English!

Life is Beautiful- This movie is about the Holocaust, but much more than that it is about a father's love for his family and his willingness to sacrifice everything just to make his son smile. This movie has both incredibly funny parts and incredibly sad ones as well. Watch it in English or Italian!


Rabbit Proof Fence- The story of three little aboriginge girls during the 1930's in Australia when the government supported extreme measures to assimilate half-white, half-aborigine children into the population. The girls are stolen from their mothers and taken to an orphanage, where they escape and travel thousands of miles back home. Amazing true story! Expect both English and Aboriginal language (not sure what it's called?).


The Station Agent- This is the story of a dwarf (I think this is the PC term?), who loses his best friend and moves to the countryside, only to make an odd group of new friends whether he wants them or not. This is kind of a strange movie, but beautiful in its own way. It makes you think. English.

The Message- A true classic and the Musilm equivalent of the Ten Commandments. It is my goal to make watching this movie a Ramdan tradition for my family in the years to come. Truly tragic that it's talented director, Mustafa Akkad, was murdered by terrorists in Jordan only a few months ago. In English or Arabic



Garden State- An anthem for disillusioned twenty-somethings, this movie is thought provoking and the cinematography is good. See it just for the soundtrack if you must! English.



Earth- The story of what happened in the troubled city of Lahore during the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan, told through the nuetral eyes of a young zorastrian girl. The film highlights the religious tensions between Hindus and Muslims and the damage caused by centuries of colonialism and repression. This is not your typical Bollywood film and a must see for anyone interesting in the history of both nations. In Urdu/Hindi with subtitles.