DOES PARASITE DESERVE ITS PLACE IN HISTORY?

Korean film Parasite shocked the world back in February by becoming the first film in a foreign language to win the Oscar for best picture.

But was there another international movie in the 92year history of the Academy Awards which deserved the history making honor more?

Amid all the praise for Parasite, a twisted tale of class divisions between rich and poor, there has also been some backlash from those claiming previous winners of the best foreign film prize were better movies and should have been the first to take the main prize.

Industry insiders acknowledge it was about time that a film not in the English language got honored with the ultimate Oscar but feel the ten classics listed on these pages could been similarly rewarded had the Academy not taken so long to get around to fully embracing international movies.

Legendary directors like Akira Kurosawa, Federico Fellini, Francois Truffaut and Ingmar Bergman all failed where Parasite’s Bong Joon Ho succeeded and that brings into focus just how big an achievement his best picture triumph was.

They could have won best picture too…

Roshomon (1951) Japan

8 ½ (1963) Italy

Day for Night (1973) France

Fanny and Alexander (1983) Sweden

Pelle the Conqueror (1988) Denmark

Cinema Paradiso (1989) Italy

Life is Beautiful (1998) Italy

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000) China mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan

A Separation (2011) Iran

Roma (2018) Mexico