Foreign cinema does not get its due respect in America. We get bombarded with so many American films throughout the year that the few great foreign films that manage to find some sort of release here fall through the cracks, and upon release are generally hard to find.

It seems that many times, America is the only country that makes films that get any attention at all. It's American films that find success at the international box office. It's American films that receive attention from audiences worldwide. Films from other countries, films that are many times better than the films released in America, get buried under the hype and marketing surrounding American blockbusters.

Foreign films tend to play differently than American ones. They can stray towards the personal, but also tend to be more artistic and daring. They take chances that many frightened American studios do not allow films to take. A few foreign films have managed to find the broad success they deserve, one example being Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth and Fernando Meirelles's City of God. These are just a few of the many great international films that deserve to be seen. Foreign cinema has gone under-appreciated for too long, so here, I present to you, the reader, a list of some of the great foreign films from the past decade. These shouldn't be too hard to find, and are worth the search.

Amélie-The French have had a long, great cinematic history. With such game-changing directors as Francois Truffaut and Jean Luc Godard, France has been given many opportunities to make great filmic art. Amélie is just one example of such high craft. This 2001 film from director Jean-Pierre Jeunet and starring Audrey Tautou tells the story of Amélie Poulain, a shy French girl who makes it her job to improve the lives of those around her and help them find happiness. Amélie is very much like its tital character. Whimsical, playful, and bright, it is a pseudo-fantasy of sorts, a film that plays out in a real setting but is drawn mostly from Amélie's mischievous and rascally point of view. The colors are bright and rich, more so than they would be from any cynic's point of view. The environments of Paris are presented like they have been taken straight from a fairy tale. Even Amélie's friends and associates are very much like the townspeople from a children's story. Amélie makes Paris her playground, and takes charge in finding and achieving the simple justice they want in their lives. Amélie is a simple and wonderful film, and is one that will leave you reeling with happy feelings.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly- Director Julian Schnabel's portrait of French fashion journalist Jean-Dominique Bauby, played in the film by Quantum of Solace's Mathieu Amalric, is one of the most poetic visual experiences ever put to film. Originating from France and shot mostly from Bauby's first-person point of view, it tells the story of the stroke that caused his near-total paralysis, and the subsequent memoirs he wrote using only his left eyelid to communicate what to write down. The film's cinematography captures the subject perfectly. It puts us in his body, traps us and constrains us to his wheelchair. In a way, we become the character. We hear his thoughts, see his memories, and see the change in ourselves that he experiences. It isn't important that we see Bauby's mangled body. What is important is that we understand his sense of being trapped in the diving bell that is his body, and his attempt to set free the butterfly inside by writing his book. Schnabel executes this effect to near perfection and creates a haunting testament to human capability even in the most impossible of situations.

Let the Right One In- Amidst the current wave of vampire films that have been flooding Hollywood, Swedish director Tomas Alfredson created one that told a story that is not only frightening, but wholly endearing. Let the Right One In tells the story of a twelve-year-old boy named Oskar, bullied and outcast, who befriends a peculiar girl who moves in next door, Eli. The girl turns out to be a vampire, and they both bring it upon themselves to protect each other from the outside world. Let the Right One In is at its core a story of childhood love, its purity and overall good meaning. Despite Eli's condition, Oskar devotes himself to her. To him, she is another living being who deserves to be counted and deserves to be looked out for. Eli wants to protect Oskar from the brutal world of boyhood, and finds in him someone who accepts her for all that she is and doesn't fear her for what she is. Let the Right One In is a moving film that creates true beauty from the subject of vampires, while also delivering the requisite scares its audience demands.

The Lives of Others-This 2006 German historical political thriller is far and away more thought provoking and more involving than most of the American political thrillers released over the past few years. It tells the story of a surveillance expert in 1984 Communist East Germany assigned to listen in on the apartment of a suspected dissident playwright. As he listens in more and more on the playwright and his actress girlfriend, the more he gets wrapped up in their lives and tries to protect them. The Lives of Others is a film that not only raises good political questions, but also gets its audience in on the story. Here, we find our way into the story through Gerd Wiessler, a surveillance man originally completely devoted to his government's ideals, but now finds himself instead considering the value of basic freedoms once he experiences the world of the rebel. The Lives of Others is a very gripping, exciting, and stimulating thriller that speaks to world issues rather than just the issues of its own country.

Oldboy-Oldboy is proof that great action films can be done abroad, too. From Korean director Park Chan Wook, Oldboy tells the story of Oh Dae-su, a man kidnapped and imprisoned for fifteen years. He does not know why he was taken, or who had him jailed. Upon release, Oh Dae-su goes on a mission of vengeance and seeks to find who had him held so unjustly against his will. Oldboy is not only a great action movie with some of the most powerful, hair-raising action scenes ever put to film, but also tells an engaging revenge tale with an ending so mind-blowing it raises even more questions upon the film's conclusion. Oldboy is a thrilling, compelling tale that transcends the traditional constraints of the action thriller and becomes a provocative, meaningful study in human nature.

There are many more films to mention, but there's simply not enough space here. Foreign cinema often do offer a different variety of filmmaking, though, that can many times transcend the traditional forms of entertainment we receive in America. So, please, do not write off foreign films. They are worth the find, and ultimately worth the time and effort.