Every letter of the alphabet has probably been used as a title for a movie, but many are so obscure that they are still awaiting votes on IMDB. However, several others have been either box office hits, award winners, or have developed a following over the years. Here are three foreign movie thrillers, all available on DVD or VHS.
Fritz Lang’s “M” - VHS, DVD
- Year: 1931
- Country: Germany
- Director: Fritz Lang
- Cast: Peter Lorre, Ellen Widman, Otto Wernicke, Gustaf Grundgens
Lang’s early masterpiece about a child murderer hunted by both the Berlin police and underworld is as riveting today as it was in 1931. Told in semi-documentary style and filmed in stark black and white, M is filled with memorable characters who accurately reflect the various levels of German society in the 1930s.
Peter Lorre, in his fourth and possibly greatest movie role, is excellent as Hans Beckert, who wants to, but cannot, control the demons within him. The actor brings enough depth to the role that his character is clearly seen as both a horrific animal and a pitiable man filled with fear. Indeed, the movie itself strongly implies that such creatures need help from society, not revenge.
Lorre’s Jewish background and director Lang’s growing hatred of Nazism influenced the two men to come to the United States two years after this film was released. Both men after arriving went on to have successful Hollywood careers.
A Movie Based on Political Intrigue, "Z" - DVD
- Year: 1969
- Country: Algeria/France
- Director: Costa-Gavras
- Cast: Yves Montand, Irene Papas, Jean-Louise Trintignant
Director Costa-Gavras’ Z is a story of government corruption and cover-up that is still relevant forty years later. When a popular, left leaning, and pacifist legislator (Montand) in an unnamed Mediterranean country is killed, the government appoints an inexperienced magistrate (Trintignant) to investigate what the officials call an unfortunate “accident.” Instead, the appointee discovers that it was a murder planned and carried out by a military cabal assisted by some politicians.
The movie was based upon an actual assassination in 1963 of a popular Greek socialist parliamentarian and the succeeding investigation which exposed corruption throughout the government. The event was later fictionalized in the novel Z by Vassilis Vassilikos, and the resulting movie won the 1969 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. The title comes from a play on words and sounds -- the pronunciation of the letter “z” in Greek is similar to the Greek phrase for “he lives.”
An Indian Crime Movie, “D” - DVD
- Year: 2005
- Country: India
- Director: Ishram Sawant
- Cast: Randeep Hooda, Chunky Pandey, Goga Kapoor
A young man named Deshu returns to Mumbai and his recently widowed father, a hardnosed constable, after working in the Middle East. He is unsure what to do with his life when fate enters into the picture. Deshu witnesses a gangland slaying and finds himself harassed by the police and threatened by the gang. For protection he joins a rival gang and soon finds himself rising in the hierarchy.
Randeep Hooda does an excellent job portraying Deshu. Given little actual dialogue, Hooda is able to bring depth to his character through his mannerisms, gestures, and facial expressions. The movie itself is free flowing and well edited, but its graphic violence and profanity will not appeal to everybody. The intensity of the movie is not even relieved by the usual, and sometimes annoying, Bollywood gimmick of having the cast suddenly burst out in song and dance.
D is the last in a trilogy of Indian movies about the Mumbai underworld that began with Satya (1998) and continued with Company (2002). It is actually a prequel to the last film and is reminiscent of, and perhaps influenced by, early American gangster films such as Little Caesar, Public Enemy, and the original Scarface.
Other Movie Articles: Three Great Western Movies, Anti-War Movies of the 1930s
