In a Better World won the 2011 Academy Award for Best Foreign film and it truly deserved it (though I’ve yet to see the others besides Biutiful, which was amazing, too.) Which brings me to this question: why does the Academy require all films except the foreign ones to screen in a theater in the US before they can qualify to be nominated? I’d love just once to be able to see the foreign nominees before the Oscars. (Dogtooth from Greece, Outside the Law from Algeria and Incendie from Canada are all opening at some point in the near future, so stay tuned.)

The Danish Oscar winner In Better World isn’t an easy movie to watch, and you should be prepared to have a knot in your stomach for about two hours. But I think you’ll be glad you did.

The story is very timely in that its central theme is bullying. 10-year-old Elias is being bullied at school. Elias’ father is a doctor posted in a refugee camp in an unnamed African country and he is dealing with the horrifying wounds inflicted by a Warlord bully; he commutes back and forth from Africa to Denmark. Into their small Danish town comes Christian who has just lost his mother to cancer. He and Elias immediately form a bond when Christian takes on Elias’ bully at school. Christian has been extremely affected by his mom’s death and has a very dark anger inside, which brings him and his new friend into some extremely dangerous situations involving knives and bombs, and there are a couple of scenes on top of a very tall building, which will have you holding your breath. Paralleling the story of the boys is Elias’ parents crumbling marriage, as well as Christian’s angry rage at his father for his mother’s death.

In a Better World is gorgeously shot with a wonderfully subtle script. The emotions are understated and painfully real and all the actors do a wonderful job of bringing this story of fragile relationships to life. But what makes In a Better World a great film is the way that it keeps the tension just under the surface from beginning to end. You have the phrase “This can’t end well” running through your head the whole time. (I won’t tell if it does.) The film deals with some enormous ethical dilemmas as well as questions of real friendship and family in an amazingly insightful and heartfelt way. And as hard as some of it is to watch, I can’t imagine anyone not being affected by this story.

It is subtitled, but even Mainstream Chick who doesn’t usually go for “movies we read” liked it. See it.

The film begins with Espósito, a retired Federal Justice Agent, deciding to write a book about an unresolved case that has become a life-long obsession. In flashback we meet him on the day that his life changed. He is a bureaucrat who works very hard at not working, but when he is reluctantly sent to the site of a gruesome crime, he is shocked to see the lifeless body of a young woman who was raped and murdered. This sight shakes him out of his complacency, and he becomes passionately engaged in a search for the killer and justice for the dead woman’s loving husband. He is aided in this quest by his lovable drunken assistant, Pablo Sandoval (Guillermo Francella).

At the same time a woman comes into his life — another life-long obsession. Irene Menéndez Hastings (Soledad Villamil) is a beautiful, intelligent judge who he falls instantly in love with but hasn’t the nerve to follow through. Their relationship simmers under the surface of the crime investigation as they work side-by-side, and his decision to write the book brings them together again.

The film adaptation was written, directed, edited and produced by Juan José Campanella with whom Ricardo Darín has made three films. It is a very good pairing. The script is intelligent, with great twists and turns, wonderful dialogue, funny and sad moments, and serious questions about morality and ethics. The camerawork is also worth noting, especially one shot that stood out for me where we begin high over a stadium and zoom in to Benjamín’s face. [VFX but stunning nonetheless.]

What the movie is about ultimately is love: Esposito’s love of Irene and hers for him, the widower’s undying love for his murdered wife, dear Pablo’s love for his friend Esposito, and even the perverse obsessive love that was the impetus for the horrible crime. How each of them expresses their love ultimately shapes their life. It is a brilliant film worth seeing if you can in a theater. If not, grab it when it comes out on DVD. I’m sure I will want to watch it again; it’s that good.

The script for this film is very smart and very subtle, and the thing that makes this movie work is Ulhrich Muhe playing the character of Agent Wiesler, the Stasi officer in charge of this operation. Wiesler starts out as one of the bad guys, a cog in the police state machine, eager to put away anyone who says anything vaguely anti-socialist. But as this particular surveillance job continues, he develops a sympathy for the couple and when information that might be very damaging appears, he begins to alter his reports to reflect a more mundane cover story. The tension this creates is amazing. You’re not sure if he is playing a game. Will he decide to turn them in? Or will he get caught for his deceptions and thrown in jail himself? In the film’s opening, the audience is told that the East German secret police employed a network of 100,000 staff and 200,000 informants to spy on its own citizens. The motto of Stasi was the “Shield and Sword of the Party” and its stated goal was to “Know everything”. The feeling that everyone in the whole country is under surveillance and the pressure that it exerts on every moment of your everyday life is the creepiest part. By the end of the film, the Berlin Wall has come down and you really understand what a momentous occasion that was for these people in a way I never had before.

I highly recommend The Lives of Others for anyone who appreciates a great drama, with a great script and excellent acting. It is, of course, subtitled, but I was glued to it start to finish. And I cried, so bring some tissues.

(Upcoming note: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s second feature is The Tourist, filming now with Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Paul Bettany and Rufus Sewell)

Best Picture

The Hurt Locker

Director

Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

Actress

Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side

Actor

Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart

Foreign Language Film

El Secreto de Sus Ojos, Argentina

Film Editing

The Hurt Locker

Documentary Feature

The Cove

Visual Effects

Avatar

Original Score

Up, Michael Giacchino

Cinematography

Avatar

Sound Mixing

Avatar

Sound Editing

The Hurt Locker

Costume

The Young Victoria

Art Direction

Supporting Actress

Mo’Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire

Adapted Screenplay

Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire

Makeup

Star Trek

Live Action Short Film

The New Tenants

Documentary (short subject)

Music by Prudence

Animated Short Film

Logorama

Original Screenplay

Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker

Original Song

The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart) from Crazy Heart, Ryan Bingham and T-Bone Burnett

Animated Feature Film

Up

Supporting Actor

Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterd

How surprised were you? I love that there is a woman with the Best Director. And I am very happy that Avatar didn’t sweep. I would have loved to see Up in the Air get more recognition, but all in all I think they did well. Too bad the production of the show was so bad.