The Guardian has yet another list to share with the world, but this time it has been voted on by readers. Coming after a remarkably strong pool of foreign film in 2006 (the five films nominated for the Oscar in the foreign film category were all among my favorite films of the year), The Guardian asked their readers a simple question:

What are the greatest foreign films of all time?

Now, I know the concept of ‘foreign’ depends on where you are, but lets for this purpose assume that a foreign film conforms to the Academy’s definition of the category. In that case, I do feel as though the readers of The Guardian actually did quite well.

I’m happy to say that I’ve seen 39 of the 40 films on the list — and I’ve added Pather Panchali to my Netflix queue already — and I will agree that they all deserve to be honored as fantastic foreign movies, despite the fact that many of them never got released in North America and most of them never had any real box-office success. However, if it was up to me, there would be a few movies added to that mix that were, in my opinion, egregious omissions:

• 8 1/2 (1963): Sure, the list includes La Dolce Vita, and rightfully so, but Fellini didn’t stop making wonderful cinema after that movie. 8 1/2 is just more proof of the director’s absolute brilliance.
• Before the Rain (1994): I don’t know much about Macedonian film or about director Manchevski, but the circular rhythm of the film and the intense emotion it captures makes it stand above many other movies that came out that year.
• Through the Olive Trees (1994): Kiarostami is a master of capturing the landscapes that make up strong characters in his movies, and this is a perfect example of the Iranian director’s skill.
• Children of Heaven (1997): It’s no surprise that Majid Majidi is one of my favorite film-makers, and this film is one of the major reasons of my appreciation of his work. This, along with Color of Paradise, are easily two of the greatest foreign films of all time.
• The Celebration (1998): If I’m not mistaken, Vinterberg’s movie was the first certified Dogme filim and was such a departure from film-making at the time that it stands to be remembered as ground-breaking.
• Amores Perros (2000): Inarritu’s most genius piece of film-making was also his breakthrough to the Hollywood film scene. Working with Arriaga’s stunning script, Inarritu ties together three seemingly separate stories seamlessly.

Of course, this is only my humble opinion, but I do find it interesting that the above films, each critically acclaimed in their own right, were overlooked by the Guardian readers. I wonder what that says about them…