10 Best European Film Award Winners

10. Riff-Raff (Ken Loach, 1991) - UK

Loach lightens up for this documentary-style comedy about the scams, laughs, dangers and camaraderie of work on a London building site. Newcomer Carlyle plays Stevie, a Scottish ex-con teenager who gets a job tearing the guts out of a closed-down hospital. His workmates are a mixed bunch: Irishmen, West Indians and Scousers with a healthy disrespect for their idle ganger, a talent for ducking and diving, and a keen eye for the main chance. The company's cavalier disrespect for basic safety standards eventually brings tensions on the site to a head. Bill Jesse's pointedly funny script skilfully evokes the texture of working life; Loach's handling of Stevie's tentative romance with would-be singer Susan (McCourt), on the other hand, wavers between the touchingly simple and curiously off-key. There are times, too, when the lively spontaneity of the improvised scenes slips into inaudible chaos. Sadly, Bill Jesse died without seeing the finished film, but this is as good an epitaph as he could have hoped for.

9. All About My Mother (Pedro Almodóvar, 1999) - Spain

Considered to be one of the finest works of Almodóvar, ‘All About My Mother’ focuses on the life of a single mother and her quest to find the transvestite father of her son, who died in a tragic car crash. The narrative weaves itself around complex themes such as homosexuality, transvestism, nihilism, loneliness and death. The movie won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2000.

8. The Stolen Children (Gianni Amelio,1992) - Italy

Gianni Amelio’s “The Stolen Children” is a powerful vision of a humanly rich but socially impoverished country, likely to earn a special niche in Italian film history. This small gem of a picture has a capacity to communicate profoundly, without cliches, to selected audiences; in its exclusive engagement in Rome, pic has attracted steady interest, and may do even better abroad.

7. Talk to Her (Pedro Almodóvar, 2002) - Spain

Perhaps the best movie made by Almodóvar and one of the finest to have ever been made, ‘Talk to Her’ is a moving tale of an unusual relationship that develops between two men while caring for two women, both of whom are in comas. The movie makes a definite attempt at dealing with a number of complicated themes including loneliness, communication, love and humane instincts. Almodóvar clinched the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for this film in 2003.

6. The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006) - Germany

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s Das leben der anderen (The Lives of Others) is a sleek and often times muted film that economizes its time and visuals in order to speak volumes. With a masterful performance by Ulrich Mühe, the film chronicles the covert espionage and surveillance of oppressive regimes in East Germany.

5. Amelie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet 2001) - France

Amelie Poulain is a curious girl with her own fantastic impressions about life and a deep love towards people. Her passion to help those around herself allows the viewer to meet the little people of Paris and, wrapped up in Amelie’s intense creative imagination, to go on a special walking tour around Montmartre.
Instead of the main touristic highlights, Amelie guides the viewer into the heart of the city, showing less renowned landmarks but more authentic scenes. This is in line with the main character’s idea that the beauty of life lies within the simplest, tiny little knick-knacks that one can only find when looking very close.

4. Lamerica (Gianni Amelio, 1994) - Italy

Two tough Italian con artists come face to face with the nightmarish despair of post-Communist Albania in “Lamerica,” a hard-hitting, often moving film by top Italo helmer Gianni Amelio. Pic’s uncompromising scorn for the two exploiters is matched by its hellish vision of a starving nation desperately searching for an escape hatch. Much tougher than Amelio’s previous “The Stolen Children,” pic could encounter resistance from more delicate filmgoers. But its evangelical sincerity and the sweeping emotion of its finale could win the director new admirers abroad with well-targeted handling.

3. Dancer in the Dark (Lars von Trier, 2000) - Denmark

Dancer in the Dark is von Trier’s ironic and sadistic take on the musical genre in his true heart-wrenching melodramatic style. Impoverished single mother and Czech immigrant, Selma Ježková, (Björk), works two jobs in order to afford an operation for her son that will prevent his vision from deteriorating – a condition that she also suffers from. When her landlord tries to steal her money, a tragedy unfolds leading to heartbreaking consequences culminating in one of the most hard-hitting final scenes in cinema.

2. The Full Monty (Peter Cattaneo, 1997) - UK

Bright and sassy, “The Full Monty” is a treat. Backed by inventive marketing, this small but muscular British pic about a bunch of gawky unemployeds launching a striptease act could turn into a winner for Fox Searchlight in the right locations, and looks set for solid business in other territories. Apart from Robert Carlyle, it’s a no-name cast, so word of mouth and the off-the-wall concept will play a large role in selling the movie.

1. Life Is Beautiful (Roberto Benigni, 1997) - Italy

“This is a simple story, but not an easy one to tell”. Describing this intimate story taken from his own family history, Roberto Benigni mixes unremitting drama with comedy, creating a delicate and unique balance in this memorable film.