With the great emergence of OTT worldwide, it is easier to get exposure to worldwide cinema. Great films around the world are easily accessible now. Below are some of the best films around the world to watch.
1. Ayla: The Daughter Of War
Director- Can Ulkay
Region- Turkish
Sergeant Süleyman comes across a half-frozen little girl in 1950. Amidst the horrors of the Korean War, with no parents and no aid in sight. The little girl, frantic, terrified, and on the edge of death, catches Süleyman’s heart. He risks his own life to save her, smuggling her into his Army camp and out of harm’s way. Süleyman, who has no idea what her name is, gives her the name Ayla in honor of the moon on the fateful night they met.
The two develop an unbreakable and instantaneous link. Süleyman’s brigade, on the other hand, is assured that they would be returning home as the conflict draws to an end. Süleyman can’t stomach leaving Ayla behind, so he does everything he can to take her with him. He is forced to give Ayla to an orphanage after repeated failures, but he does not give up hope of one day reconciling with her.
2. The Hunt
Director- Thomas Vinterberg
Region- Danish
Lucas is a Kindergarten teacher who is very concerned about his children’s well-being. Unfortunately for him, Klara’s imagination runs wild and she fabricates a tale about her teacher. Lucas has become the town’s outcast before he can even comprehend the repercussions. The chase is on to prove his innocence before his property is permanently taken away from him.
3. The White Balloon
Director- Jafar Panahi
Region- Iranian
Razieh prefers a large goldfish to the small ones in her family’s pond at home during the Iranian New Year celebration because the fat fish swims like it’s dancing. She and her brother finally persuade their mother to give them the last of her money after numerous attempts. Razieh loses money between their house and the fish store. She locates it, but it is tantalizingly out of reach.
4. United 93
Director- Paul Greengrass
Region- American
The night before the deadly 11-S-2001, four young Arabians prepared physically and spiritually to hijack United Flight 93. Three additional planes were hijacked on the same day and made it to their destinations: the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. After killing both pilots and one of the passengers, the passengers attempt to subdue the terrorists, one of whom had a bomb tied to his waist. Meanwhile, the current crisis in Air Traffic Control is attempting to resolve a scenario that results in the closure of all of the country’s aerial space. Despite the passengers’ bravery, the United Airlines plane, which was on its way to San Francisco, crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, before reaching its intended destination of Washington, D.C.
5. A Whisker Away
Director(s)- Junichi Sato, Tomotaka Shibayama
Region- Japanese
Miyo Sasaki is a strange second-year junior high girl who falls in love with Kento Hinode, a classmate. Muge attempts every day to get Kento’s attention, but it’s in vain. Despite this, Muge continues to seek Kento while concealing a secret she can’t reveal to anyone. Muge discovers a magical mask that allows her to shift into a cat; but, if she continues to use the mask, she may never return to her human form.
6. Shadow
Director- Yi- Mou Zhang
Region- Chinese
Set during the Three Kingdoms period in China (AD 220-280). The story of a great king and his people who are exiled from their homeland and yearn to return. The characters who will turn the inexorable forces of this story will be the king, violent and ambitious, with mysterious methods and motives. His general, a visionary who yearns to win the final battle but must prepare his plans in secret. The women of the palace, who struggle to find redemption in a world where they have no place. Lastly, a commoner who is called “Lord of all the world.”
7. Pan’ s Labyrinth
Director- Guillermo del Toro
Region- Spanish
In 1944, in post-Civil War Spain, a young and imaginative Ofelia travels to the country with her pregnant and sick mother Carmen Vidal to meet and live in an old mill with her stepfather, the sadistic and cruel Captain Vidal. During the night, Ofelia meets a fairy, and the two of them travel to a pit in the center of a maze, where they meet a faun who informs them that she is a princess from an underground kingdom. He also informs her that her father is waiting for her, but she must first complete three grueling, difficult, and dangerous tasks. Meanwhile, she befriends the servant Mercedes, who is the sister of one of the rebels and actually helps the group. Ofelia lives her magical world in a dark, harsh, and violent world, attempting to complete her tasks while seeing her father and king.
8. Barfi
Director- Anurag Basu
Region- Indian
Barfi, a deaf and deafeningly deafeningly deafeningly deafeningly deafeningly deafening Despite her strong feelings for Barfi, Shruti succumbs to societal and parental pressure to marry a ‘normal’ man and live a ‘normal’ life. Many years later, when Barfi, now in love with Jhilmil, is on the run from the police, their paths cross again. Jhilmil, who has gone missing, is desperately sought after by Barfi. Shruti’s realization that Jhilmil is autistic leads her to realize that true love is truly blind. Shruti realizes she is still in love with him while caught up in a cat and mouse game in search of the girl Barfi adores.
