We’re not saying foreign films get no respect. After all, they are nominated for Oscars. But be honest: Have you heard of this year’s five nominees? And do you personally sit through movies with subtitles? Here’s a rundown of Oscar’s foreign favorites, a generally grim and foreboding quintet, screened last week at National Geographic headquarters as part of the All Roads Film Project.

Katyn

From: Poland

Plot: In 1940 in Katyn Forest, the Soviets massacred 12,000 Polish soldiers. In the five years of war that follow, their families of the soldiers, and the few survivors, struggle to make sense of their lives while trying to learn the truth about what happened at Katyn.

Oscar-worthy moment: The events of that awful day are revealed in a flashback, prompted when the wife of Lieutenant Andrzej receives his journal in 1945. As his words are read aloud, the movie shows the confusion of the soldiers as they're herded onto a train, presumably bound for a labor camp; the bureaucracy of the Soviets, who process each new arrival as if there's some future ahead; and the brutal crime itself.

Subtitles: 100 percent readable.

Will it win: It certainly deserves to. The movie vividly depicts the physical and mental torments that afflict families coping with the aftermath of a massacre. And the Academy usually admires movies whose multiple storylines collide in a powerful conclusion. -William E. Barr

12

From: Russia

Plot: Twelve angry Muscovite jurors ponder the case of a young Chechen boy accused of killing his adoptive Russian stepfather. Scenes of armed conflict in Chechnya are interspersed with the boy’s personal history and the jury-room efforts to determine the truth.

Subtitles: Easy to read—and native Russian speakers who sat next to me praised the translation. Chechen dialogue is also subtitled in both Russian and English.

Oscar-worthy moment: As the accused paces in a small cell, the foreman of the jury tries to explain how they cna save the boy's life if they dig in and uncover the truth about the case. He breaks down mid-sentence. Then the camera pulls back from the boy’s feet to show that he's not pacing; he's performing a traditional Chechen dance–a way to express his ties to his lost family and the homeland he loves and misses.

Will it win: A bit too heavy-handed and didactic to take home the statue, but the actors deserve a special award for their staggeringly impressive work. -Nicholas Mott

The Counterfeiters

From: Austria

Plot: Instead of making  money by making art, Salomon "Sali" Sorowitsch, a Jewish artist in pre-World War II Germany, makes money by making fake money. He’s caught, arrested, and sent to a concentration camp but ends up leading Himmler's secret operation to flood the U.S. and Britain with counterfeit bills.

Oscar-worthy moment: A table-tennis match between two of the pampered counterfeiters is disrupted when a prisoner in the camp collapses and is shot to death. Adolf Burger insists that the game continue and sends a volley across the table to Sali—a not-so-subtle flash of anger at Sali’s willingness to print counterfeit money for the Nazis. Sali responds with his fists. (For Burger's story, as told by him, check out this Wall Street Journal article.)

Subtitles: Easy to follow, except for the occasional scene when the camera pivots sharply, or when white text is printed on a white background.

Will it win: Unlike many Holocaust films, The Counterfeiters reveals both the courage and cowardice of camp prisoners who must decide at what cost they will risk their lives and honor. With that kind of scenario, The Counterfeiters is likely to cash in with an Oscar. -Ben Block

Beaufort

From: Israel

Plot: In a matter of weeks, Israel will withdraw troops from Lebanon, but that's not soon enough for the soldiers guarding a lonely outpost near the Crusader fortress Beaufort. Bombarded by rocket fire and hemmed in by an explosive device on the road, they mark their final days in Lebanon with an impending sense of doom and dark, nihilistic humor (after a visitor says no thanks to an offer of “deluxe Beaufort toast” with pesto, cherry tomatoes, and Dijon, the toast offerer says, “Good, because we’re out of all three.”)

Oscar-worthy moment: "Ziv [from] the bomb squad," 'coptered in to defuse the explosive device, gets ready to check it out. The early-morning sky is an eerie silver-gray. Protective suit in place, visor down, salty licorice from his mom in his mouth, Ziv taps with a cane, as a blind man would, to look for tripwires—then falls to his knees as if in prayer to inch up to the gadget.

Subtitles: No problems.

Will it win? Beaufort deserves to be honored for its depiction of the absurdity of war. But maybe two hours of the absurdity of war is a bit too much for the Academy. –Marc Silver

Mongol

From: Kazakhstan

Plot:  This movie could be called Genghis Khan: the Early Years. At age nine, Temudgin (birth name of the great Khan) rides with his aristocratic father to select a wife.  On the return trip, a rival tribe poisons dad, and his own tribesmen ransack the family home. Temudgin is locked up until he escapes as a teenager, when he is able to marry Börte. His dedication to her, and the force of his personality, leads him into conflicts with a powerful tribe, his blood brother’s sizeable army, and neighboring China.  In the process he unites the Mongols under a new code of laws and builds an army poised to conquer most of Asia.

Oscar-worthy moment: Carrying torches and wearing fearsome masks, a feuding tribe attacks the home of the now-grown Temudgin. Their goal is to steal his new bride, just as his mother was stolen from their tribe years ago.  An enemy arrow wounds Temudgin as the couple tries to escape. Börte gives herself up after spurring a horse to carry her wounded husband to safety—an act that symbolizes the extraordinary bond between husband and wife.

Subtitles: Straightforward and easy to read, with a touch of poetry: “Look for a wife with a face as flat as a salt lake, and eyes that are narrow. Evil spirits dive into wide eyes and drive them to madness.” 

Will it win? Awkward transitions aside, Mongol impresses with breathtaking scenery and strong performances. Boyish yet stoic, radiating a calm far beyond his years, young Odnyam Odsuren is utterly convincing. So … not your typical foreign-film winner, but a definite dark-horse candidate. -Brad Scriber

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