Stuart Klawans, film critic for The Nation, reviews two of the most talked about foreign films of 2008.

Gommorah, “an endlessly compelling” Italian movie about the Neapolitan mob based on Roberto Saviano’s book of the same name, was directed by Matteo Garrone. It is “as harsh and un-romanticized a gang movie” as Klawans has ever seen.

The Class has been shortlisted for “Best Foreign Language Film” but Klawans encourages viewers not to “let the Oscar nomination get in your way of liking the movie.” This French film directed by Laurent Cantet and written by the lead actor, François Bégaudeau, is an “ethically complex, emotionally troubling” look inside one diverse Parisian classroom. Both films are daring in their own ways and are highly recommended.

—Corbin Hiar

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