Roll Up for Some Great Foreign Flicks (Part II)

La Vita e Bella

I watched the Spanish translation of this multiple Oscar winner but it is, of course, Italian. I loved this film so much that I considered learning Italian just to be able to watch it in the language it was filmed in. I think that all films (like books) lose something in the translation but the English version is called Life Is Beautiful and I have been told that it is excellent as well. I certainly enjoyed the Spanish version (La Vida es Bella) like I have enjoyed few other movies from any country. However, if they are taking Italian lessons London students can supplement them by watching this 1997 classic from Roberto Benigni in the original language. The music is pretty good as well if I remember rightly.

Cidade De Deus

This is a Brazilian movie so it was shot in Portuguese. I watched it with Spanish subtitles when I was first learning the language and got really confused. It is a hard hitting story of crime and life in Rio. If you want to learn Portuguese London is a great city to do it in and this film is going to help you immensely. Given the setting and the type of action I would assume that a lot of the language is slang and maybe hard to understand but, hey, that’s just part of the fun with foreign flicks.