In 2020, Korean director Bong Joon Ho won four Oscars for his critically and commercially acclaimed film “Parasite.” It was the 11th foreign-language film nominated for Best Picture, but the first to win the award.
In his acceptance speech, Ho said, “Once you overcome the 1-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.” A powerful sentiment, but lately, it can feel like an empty one.
The world we live in today is more connected than ever before, especially in terms of entertainment. Streaming services like Netflix now cater to hundreds of languages, increasing their demographics to billions of people all over the globe. Cultures and peoples of all nations and history are now having their stories told, yet those stories are not being heard. At least, not properly.
About a year ago, I had the opportunity to show my best friends a movie in Telugu, my mother tongue. I chose a family favorite: “Ala Vaikuntampuramoolo.” Most might be turned away simply after attempting to pronounce the name, but I love this movie. It has all the staples of Indian films: great fights, catchy music, a serious plot and some of my favorite actors. I thought nothing could go wrong. As you can probably assume, I was wrong — a lot could go wrong.
Ten minutes into the movie, we got to a scene of a very serious, establishing fight, and all they were doing was laughing. Throughout the film, they saw all the tense, emotional beats as comedic. All the romantic scenes were not seen that way at all. A film I love left me feeling embarrassed as the credits rolled. It made me angry.
I wondered how these people could be so crass with the art of another culture. But it also led me to a more important question: Why did this happen? I was so shocked because all of the things they were laughing at felt like normal parts of a Telugu movie, but I knew it was normal to me because I had that constant exposure to it.
From a very young age, I was exposed to films in multiple languages, because my parents are both immigrants and massive film nerds. I still remember my father taking me to a Tamil movie about a cyborg which ended up giving me nightmares and I recalled it the night I showed him “Avengers: Age of Ultron.”
For all my life, I never stuck to the mentality that all the films I saw needed to be in English, have the same A-list actors or even follow similar themes. Growing up, Tollywood (the Telugu language equivalent of Hollywood) was always a part of my movie encyclopedia. I cherished every film I saw. So when I had the chance to show these films to non-Telugu speakers, I leaped at the opportunity, not thinking of our differences in exposure.
I had a unique situation where I came from a family where I was constantly exposed to non-English films. I was able to see the great things in these different film industries. The grand productions, beautiful songs and soundtracks and stellar romances of Telugu cinema. The important social issues and dark storytelling in Tamil movies. The dark comedies and intense thrillers of Korea, and everything else in between, all shaped me as a cinephile, with so many different movies guiding my life.
In middle school, I saw the Telugu movie “Mirchi”, a film about a very angry man learning to control himself for love. It taught me the importance of family at a time I was fighting with my own. During COVID, I watched “Parasite”, a Korean dramedy about social inequality, which helped shape my social advocacy. Before I came to SLU, I watched “3 Idiots”, a Hindi comedy about 3 friends starting their freshman year. It taught me to never stop exploring my passions, even in a world that doesn’t support them. So many foreign films had a positive impact on my life. I just never realized how niche of an experience that was.
Every few years, Hollywood and popular media seem to go through a “foreign cinema craze.” Starting in 2019, attention from both critics and general audiences increased for more East Asian cinema, like with the aforementioned “Parasite” winning best picture. Beyond that, however, we saw huge success for films like “Drive My Car” (Japanese), “Minari” (Korean), and even for television shows like “Squid Game” (Korean).
Even more recently, and what I’ve been the happiest about, has been the increased focus on Indian and South Asian movies. In 2022, the Telugu film “RRR,” directed by the renowned S.S. Rajamouli, took the Western world by storm.
Thanks to its thrilling story, top-notch action and stellar soundtrack, American audiences were captivated, and it became the most-watched non-English film on Netflix. It even won the Oscar for Best Original Song, for the film’s killer dance song “Naatu Naatu.” There was just one problem: no one knew it was a Telugu movie.
When it was released on Netflix, the film was only available in Hindi, which meant people assumed it was a Hindi movie. Even at the Academy Awards, the host called “RRR” a Bollywood film (Hindi’s equivalent to Hollywood) and an apology or correction was never issued.
When moments like these occur, American interests in these films feel very empty and veiled.
Every time this cycle slows down, and people start to forget there are films outside of the United States, I like to remember that quote from Bong Joon Ho. It feels ever more important to remember those words in the low points because it makes them less prominent. It may sound lofty, that watching movies can be life-changing but it really is true.
So if you have some time this weekend, go on Netflix, the theater or even YouTube. Find a foreign film and watch it. Though it may seem strange, or even off at points, just stay and watch. You will find something truly amazing, I guarantee it.
