OK, so, we recently had the article on 2023 public domain copyrights. I watched (again) Fritz Lang's Metropolis from 1927. I've also stumbled across The Quake (2018) very recently, and watched it. The only other Euro movie I can think of, offhand, is Pan's Labyrinth. All Quiet on the Western Front?
So, what do some of you Euros consider to be important cultural items, that Americans should be familiar with? (British answers will be acceptable here, I think. You're almost Euro . . . )
Yeah, sure, I could do an internet search with the same question, alternating the term slightly if I don't get good results. But, where better to ask, than on a more-or-less international forum filled with fellow geeks and nerds? The man in the street isn't going to have the same answers as our Soylent community, on this, or any other subject!
And, it isn't necessary to restrict the discussion to Euros - Asians, South Americans, Islanders, even Canadians can suggest important cultural works for us to watch, or read, or listen to! We may have to draw the line with 'Strayans though . . . Do we really have to hear 'Play me Didgeradoo' again?
[Ed. note: The way global entertainment has been dominated by only a handful of companies over the last two or three decades, I tend to feel that it is almost impossible to produce culturally important pieces on a large scale any more for fear that they would only have limited mass appeal and not get funded, so I would also love to hear what items I should to add to my watch/listen list that I might be missing out on. --hubie]
Related Stories
https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/20/free-for-2023/#oy-canada
40 years ago, giant entertainment companies embarked on a slow-moving act of arson. The fuel for this arson was copyright term extension (making copyrights last longer), including retrospective copyright term extensions that took works out of the public domain and put them back into copyright for decades. Vast swathes of culture became off-limits, pseudo-property with absentee landlords, with much of it crumbling into dust.
After 55-75 years, only 2% of works have any commercial value. After 75 years, it declines further. No wonder that so much of our cultural heritage is now orphan works, with no known proprietor. Extending copyright on all works – not just those whose proprietors sought out extensions – incinerated whole libraries full of works, permanently.
Jennifer Jenkins of the Duke University Center for the Public Domain has a very nice assemblage of some of the more notable items going into public domain this year: https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2023/
(Score: 3, Informative) by mhajicek on Wednesday December 28, @06:58PM (3 children)
Tolkien, Monty Python.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 28, @10:31PM (1 child)
You need to be a little more specific here.
(Score: 3, Touché) by mhajicek on Thursday December 29, @08:53AM
All of them.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Thursday December 29, @09:17PM
Neither of which will be public domain for decades.
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 28, @07:12PM (2 children)
Just off the top of my head, here are some for the short list.
Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)
The Unknown Soldier (1955)
Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
Wings of Desire (1987)
Pathfinder (1987)
Memories of a Marriage (1989)
For kids, there are various series on Moomin Troll, Pippi, Emil, Dillermand but it's unclear how accessible they will be to the current crop in the target age group.
As far as general culture, there are things like a comic opera, Djingis Khan (1954), which was translated to English and toured the States in 1986, but good luck on that. Each country has its own local version of the MAFIAA and the relevant one there, STIM, has pretty much ensured that music and lyrics will never be found let alone used.
If you want regional movies, check out some of the film festivals which specialize in their region, like TIFF [www.tiff.no] which has a lot of Nordic and Arctic themes. There is still time to arrange get there but many seatings will have been sold out already.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 28, @07:42PM (1 child)
I loved Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai. It has been a long time since I've seen it that I think I need to find a stream of it.
(Score: 2) by canopic jug on Thursday December 29, @09:22AM
Another story, the book 47 Ronin, can be recommended in that genre.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 3, Informative) by krishnoid on Wednesday December 28, @07:19PM (7 children)
Barefoot Gen [wikipedia.org] is a manga series, later adapted to other media, loosely based on a kid's survival of the bombing of Hiroshima. I think it's very well known in Japan, and a decent amount of anime has some enormous explosion that flattens a metropolitan area early on or midway through (or preceeding) the series. I think the experience of the bomb made its way deeply into the national psyche, but that's way going out on a limb since I never lived there.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Rich on Wednesday December 28, @10:20PM (5 children)
It appears to me that countries excel in films about wars they lost. Besides "Barefoot Gen" there's also the superb "In This Corner of the World" and of course "Grave of the Fireflies" from Japan. Germany pretty much only has decent films from that genre, with "Das Boot", "Downfall" and "Stalingrad" standing out, and even "Der Baader Meinhof Komplex" and "Good bye Lenin" tell of failed struggles. (N.b. the observation seems valid even for the US, with "Full Metal Jacket", "Apocalypse Now", and "Platoon").
But as I'm already writing: Respectable German post-war cinema pretty much died with Bernd Eichinger. Today it's either toilet-humour level comedy without toilet, or wanna-be artsy pretentious social critique. The top-ten lists of highest-grossing/admittance for German productions in Germany consist of abysmal non-comedies, with the exception of two mildly entertaining Euro-Westerns ("Apache Gold" and "Old Shatterhand") which would be unthinkable today in the mindset of those behind modern German film because of unbearable cultural appropriation and portrayal of natives. But go to Italy for some cool spaghetti western stuff, or to France for everything else cinematic.
Oh, and take care with "Triumph of the Will". It gets praised for its groundbreaking camera and scenery work, but the constant depiction of marching of whatever marching units they could find to marching music they considered suitable back in the day will take a toll on a modern person's brain over the course of two hours.
One final shout-out to "Das doppelte Lottchen". An animation comedy with serious anime level production and direction, but in the art style of E.O.Plauen (Erich Kästner's illustrator). I think it is absolutely superb and probably the best animation ever made in Germany. But that's a real minority opinion, hardly anyone even knows about it. I got the DVD on fire sale for something like 1 EUR, which is a shame.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29, @12:54AM (1 child)
A footnote on "Apocalypse Now" -- if at all possible see the Directors Cut...I think that's the correct name, anyway the long version, released long after the initial release. It's one movie where every scene seemed to me to play out completely, nothing cut short. Instead of adding extra dialog to the footage that was put back there is music by Mickey Hart (Grateful Dead drummer) in the sound track.
For me, it was nearly mesmerizing.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday December 29, @04:36PM
Yep, all the good American war movies are about Vietnam. The pattern fits!
(Score: 5, Informative) by bzipitidoo on Thursday December 29, @01:19AM (1 child)
Wars that they lost? An excellent German film is Downfall (2004), about the final days of the Third Reich. Yeah, it's Bernd Eichinger.
I have heard that Alexander Nevsky (1938) is one of the great films of Russia. You'll want a reconstructed and remastered version. The editing on the original was horrible, thanks to Stalin's oppressive censorship. The censors broke in in the middle of the night before it had been finished, to examine the film, missed a reel, and the producer decided to shove it out the door as it was when they looked, without the reel that had been missed. The music is by one of the giants of classical music, Sergei Prokofiev. The music alone is worth a listen.
For more lighthearted films, there is the French film Amelie (2001). From Japan, My Neighbor Totoro (1988) is a good one.
These are all internationally lauded films. They're not obscure gems. India surely has some good stuff, what with Bollywood, but I don't know any. I suppose I shouldn't have even commented, as I am not a film buff, nor European.
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Thursday December 29, @12:00PM
Nonsense. Your suggestions are added to my list of stuff to see. Hollywood mostly sucks ass, and they suck harder and harder as time passes. I'm interested in what the rest of the world has done, and/or is doing. Thanks for the input.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29, @03:55PM
They say suffering is the best teacher. The bursting of illusion, the realization that one was wrong and making amends - this is the deep stuff. You can keep the car chases and wisecracking Bruce Willis bullshit. Although his life has turned into something of a lesson for all of us...!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29, @01:41AM
Another war movie, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_Hearts_(1966_film) [wikipedia.org]
It played in a movie theater in Cambridge MA (USA) for many years when I was a student, don't know how many times I've seen it. Watched on YouTube a couple of years ago, it never gets old.
(Score: 3, Informative) by krishnoid on Wednesday December 28, @07:43PM (1 child)
I defy you to find one school-aged human of Indian descent who hasn't heard of these two stories, which are the two great Indian epics. Hell, I'll bet they can tell you the whole story from memory, and if you have a few of them together, they'll randomly jump in to fill in some of the side stories as well.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 28, @07:59PM
(Score: 3, Insightful) by inertnet on Wednesday December 28, @08:30PM (2 children)
One of the greatest but lesser known guitarists is Jan Akkerman. His band 'Focus' only got 4.5 minutes to play this song [youtube.com] which is originally almost 7 minutes. They simply sped it up to fit, which shows their professionalism.
If you're interested, before this the lead guitar player had a band named Brainbox. They had a great singer 'Kaz', worth the search if you like this kind of early 70's music.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 28, @10:29PM
Love that song. My college roommate and I used to blast it in our freshman dorm. Reading the comments there, I now understand why there were multiple versions of the song at different tempos.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Wednesday December 28, @11:13PM
Thank you, yep, Jan Akkerman is one of my top favorites. That's one of the more fun vids of that song. I think they sped it up because they can. I'm a guitar hacker and I love playing that song. Er, well, some of it.
I remember there used to be several rock concert TV shows- one was called "Rock Concert" which may have been the same as "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert", "The Midnight Special", "In Concert", and maybe a couple more I don't remember.
One time on one of the shows, Focus playing "Hocus Pocus", Jan Akkerman did a blazing fast run, looked at his left hand while he shook it, and went back to playing.
Tons of great rock out of Germany and many other European countries. They have huge rock music festivals, some are very hard and extremely hard rock.
Another band I liked was (still together) "Climax Blues Band" and some songs off of "Sense of Direction" album. One of my favorites is "Amerita" [youtube.com] Another is Nogales [youtube.com] Lyrics are fun.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by krishnoid on Wednesday December 28, @10:39PM
Considering the brouhaha about Indians being called "Apu" on the playground after the Simpsons character, who was himself named after the movie character [wikipedia.org] from a trilogy.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by coolgopher on Wednesday December 28, @10:41PM (1 child)
Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29, @04:04PM
Another Swedish classic: Hurra, die Schwedinnen sind da [youtube.com]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 28, @10:52PM (3 children)
It was the best of questions. It was the worst of questions.
Spend a couple bucks on a kindle version of the hundred greatest books evar. (There are several collections to choose from. Some even have pictures.) Read them. Beats watching Benny Hill.
Skip Mein Kampf.
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Thursday December 29, @12:26AM (2 children)
You can't be serious. Who here can even type "hundred greatest books" without inserting "science fiction" somewhere in the search term?
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday December 29, @01:06AM (1 child)
Someone without a soul.
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Thursday December 29, @03:39AM
Thus saith Soylent Khallow.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MostCynical on Wednesday December 28, @10:56PM (1 child)
War film that came out during WW2: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) [wikipedia.org] full version on YT here [youtube.com]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Thursday December 29, @03:32AM
To my untrained ear, it sounds like everyone is speaking 'Murican instead of English in that movie. Seems they were careful not to use terms like bonnet or boot, pretty much everything sounded like American Mid-west to me.
Pretty good movie though.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by oumuamua on Thursday December 29, @12:49AM (1 child)
You can't go wrong reading any of the books listed in the link but the one that jumped out at me was Steppenwolf. In my youth, I read every Hermann Hesse book in the library. Hesse's novels pack insightful doses of philosophy, mysticism, psychology and religion. Hesse was popular in the 60's and the band Steppenwolf [youtube.com] took their name from this book as did a few other bands [wikipedia.org]. Of course note that it is the German version that is going public domain :)
(Score: 2) by hubie on Thursday December 29, @02:14PM
When I took German classes in high school, my teacher had us spend a lot of time with Siddhartha. Taking a wild guess at his age, I think he would have probably been in college in the 60s.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by Gaaark on Thursday December 29, @02:57AM (2 children)
-Dad's Army (Love at the start where they show some of the Hobarts funnies and other warfare techniques. Plus just fun.)
-Babylon 5 (Wish the 'visual' quality was better, but you can't beat the storyline: wish more shows were done with forethought)
-BBC Connections (love the way the past is linked to the 'present' through people and inventions)
-Corner Gas (*CANADIAN* and good dry humour)
-Doctor Who (i grew up with Tom Baker, but have fallen in love with the 1st Doctor: he is so selfish and cranky and mischievous: just fun to watch)
-Firefly ('nuff said)
-Red Dwarf (because)
-SCTV (*CANADIAN* 'Don't touch that knob...don't touch that dial... and stop touching yourself!')
-Star Trek TOS
-The IT Crowd (just frickin' funny!)
-Monty Python everything ('cos if you don't, you won't know what we're talking about
-Yes Minister, Yes Prime Minister (just fun politics)
-Forbidden Planet
-The good, the bad and the ugly
-KISS meets the Phantom of the Park (nah, just kidding... pass....)
-My Name Is Nobody (a GOOD spaghetti western)
-Plan 9 from outer space (you gotta see it, if even just once.... you GOTTA!)
-Seven Samurai (as mentioned elsewhere: The Magnificent Seven is, at times, taken word for word from Seven Samurai)
-SOYLENT GREEN (BECAUSE.... WELL, YOU KNOW... IT'S PEEEEEOPLE!)(and because you're HERE, aren't you? Hint hint)
-Strange Brew (*CANADIAN, eh? Not a great movie, bad acting "Act! Act!", but full of fun hosers and Max von Sydow)
-Team America, world police (Puppet sex! Eh! Eh! What more could you ask for!)
-The Hidden Fortress (the reason you got Star Wars)
-They call me Trinity & Trinity is still my name (bad but fun spaghetti westerns)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29, @11:27PM (1 child)
Addio Zio Tom
Thriller – A Cruel Picture
Gayniggers from Outer Space
The Passion of the Christ
For Your Height Only
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 31, @07:49AM
> Gayniggers from Outer Space
Oh no not this again....
(Score: 2) by canopic jug on Thursday December 29, @09:43AM (1 child)
The classic Beowulf [uky.edu] is an interesting case. It is often mislabeled as an Old English epic poem but in reality that is only a written translation of a spoken poem into Old English from another language. It is somewhat in the style of the old Norse sagas and involves the Danes and Geats.
Of the Icelandic sagas, Laxdæla Saga, Njál's Saga, Egil's Saga, or Gretti's Saga might be good choices. If films of that style would be more interesting, then there are The Raven Flies [imdb.com] (part 1/3), The White Viking [imdb.com] (part 2/3), and Under the shadow of the Raven [imdb.com] (part 3/3)
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Thursday December 29, @09:13PM
I once tried writing something in that style -- a poem with each line broke into two short parts. It' s fiendishly difficult.
(Score: 3, Informative) by MrGuy on Thursday December 29, @01:06PM (1 child)
Before it was a terrible movie, and more importantly before it was a transcendent (and increasingly misnamed) trilogy of books, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy was a radio series on BBC Radio 4.
Ok, you asked for video content, but given the major place in the geek pantheon HHGG holds, and how relatively unknown the original incarnation of the series was, I don’t feel bad including it here.
https://www.thegeektwins.com/2015/01/how-to-listen-to-original-hitchhikers.html [thegeektwins.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29, @04:58PM
Yes. The radio play was on local public radio throughout the year. Then on Christmas Day they ran through all 6 hours of episodes and I recorded them. We had endless fun listening to the tapes on road trips for years after that.
Haven't tried to track down all the details, but that original version seems different (and better, more spontaneous) to me than the version released by BBC later.
(Score: 2) by SpockLogic on Thursday December 29, @05:30PM
Read Clochemerle, Gabriel Chevallier’s 1934 comic novel centered around the construction of a public urinal, and if you can find it watch the BBC serialization from the 1970's.
You may see surprising similarities in it to the current political divide on this side of the pond. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clochemerle [wikipedia.org]
Overreacting is one thing, sticking your head up your ass hoping the problem goes away is another - edIII
(Score: 3, Informative) by mcgrew on Thursday December 29, @09:13PM
I just posted the full test of Only Yesterday [mcgrewbooks.com], a history of the 1920s. It was required reading in a college history class, and unlike most histories it was a very well written, enjoyable read. It mentions things omitted from most histories; what people were wearing, reading, listening to on the radio (brand new then), what was on the movies, and I have linked most of the mentioned books, movies, and songs.
It's still problematic on a PC, if it starts with a blank screen click anywhere and it will go to the Table of Contents. The only links that are colored are in that table.
I may work on it a little after a couple more beers...
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 30, @01:25AM (1 child)
Wake up! 😉
Or are you going to take the blue pill? "I know kung-fu", "Guns. Lots of guns", "There is no spoon", "Never send a human to do a machine's job"
Queen - We will Rock You ( https://tenor.com/view/queen-we-will-rock-you-boom-goes-the-gif-5730293 [tenor.com] ), We are the Champions, Bohemian Rhapsody ( https://youtu.be/cZnBNuqqz5g [youtu.be] ), etc
Seriously - I'm Asian and I think such popular stuff can still be culturally important if not more so than movies etc whose greatness often seem to be more "Emperor's New Clothes" than culturally important (some may be very good but they're not really culturally important). Not all popular stuff is culturally important either (there have been very popular stuff in the past but mainly only historians cared about that later ).
For what I'm talking about - stories like Alice in Wonderland have concepts/sayings/etc that are reused for other stuff (not merely recalled) by many ("down the rabbit hole", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Queen_hypothesis [wikipedia.org] https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/3-540-27296-8_19 [springer.com] )
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 30, @03:37PM
> Alice in Wonderland have concepts/sayings/etc that are reused for other stuff
White Rabbit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl89g2SwMh4 [youtube.com]
"...Feed your head!"
(Score: 2, Insightful) by pTamok on Friday December 30, @12:54PM (1 child)
Triumph of the Will (1936): Producer Leni Riefenstahl [wikipedia.org]
In Which We Serve (1942): Director David Lean [wikipedia.org]
Brief Encounter (1945): Director David Lean [wikipedia.org]
A Matter of Life and Death (1946): Director Michael Powell [wikipedia.org]
The Third Man (1949): Director Carol Reed [wikipedia.org]
Whisky Galore (1949): Director Alexander Mackendrick [wikipedia.org]
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949): Director Robert Hamer [wikipedia.org]
Les Quatre Cents Coups (1959): Director François Truffaut [wikipedia.org]
La Dolce Vita (1960): Director Federico Fellini [wikipedia.org]
Un Homme et Une Femme (1966): Director François Truffaut [wikipedia.org]
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie(1969): Director Ronald Neame [wikipedia.org]
The Italian Job (1969): Director Peter Collinson [wikipedia.org]
The Go-Between (1971): Director Joseph Losey [wikipedia.org]
Emmanuelle (1974): Director Just Jaeckin [wikipedia.org]
Gregory's Girl (1980): Director Bill Forsyth [wikipedia.org]
Diva (1981): Director Jean-Jacques Beineix [wikipedia.org]
Das Boot (1981): Director Wolfgang Petersen [wikipedia.org]
Chariots of Fire (1981): Director David Puttnam [wikipedia.org]
Gandhi (1982): Director Richard Attenborough [wikipedia.org]
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984): Director Michael Radford [wikipedia.org]
Babette's Feast (1987): Director Gabriel Axel [wikipedia.org]
Delicatessen (1991): Directors Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro [wikipedia.org]
Italian for Beginners (2000): Director Lone Scherfig [wikipedia.org]
Good Bye, Lenin! (2001): Director Wolfgang Becker [wikipedia.org]
Bend It Like Beckham (2002): Director Gurinder Chadha [wikipedia.org]
I haven't just taken the list of top 100 British films as determined by the British Film Institute [wikipedia.org], but unsurprisingly, many of the ones I think are good are in that list. I'd add in I'm All Right Jack, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Zulu, The Madness of King George, and Brazil. I'd also add almost anything from Peter Greenaway - I'm surprised that the only one listed is The Draughtsman's Contract, as I prefer Drowning by Numbers and The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover.
This is a highly personal list - your taste may well vary, and that's OK.
(Score: 1) by pTamok on Saturday December 31, @10:34AM
I see someone moderated 'Disagree', which is fine, and no doubt, accurate, but I will say "De gustibus non est disputandum" [wikipedia.org].
And yes, I started off with a couple of items from French cinema, but branched off into listing European films that I had liked, or which I though were of cultural significance. No more, no less. I should have updated the title to more accurately reflect the contents. Sorry. As I said, a personal list, with which it is perfectly O.K. to disagree. If you do disagree, it would be great if you said why you disagree in the comments.
(Score: 3, Informative) by quietus on Saturday December 31, @12:32PM
Italian cinema/series:
Gomorrah, the series. The mafia -- miles and miles of difference with the portrayal in Hollywood.
La Meglio Gioventu. I'm not one for movies with endless talking, but this one might keep you glued to your seat for hours on end. Family chronicle against the background of [the history of] modern Italy.
1992, 1993, 1994 [wikipedia.org]. Decadence and stubborn courage.
Scandinavian crime-noir:
The Killing [wikipedia.org] (the original, Danish version). A good jump-off point for starting to explore a complete genre.
French political drama:
Baron Noir. Everything you see there is real. You cannot get closer to the skin of a politician than this. After watching, House of Cards will look like the sugar-coated, glamorized, Disney-ized political drama it is.
Belgian realism:
Everything from the brothers Dardenne. Not something you'd watch for your pleasure, best something to put into the category of extreme social realism akin to Ken Loach.
German conscience seeking:
Das Weisse Band [wikipedia.org]. A sketch of the oppressive atmosphere in Germany (but, in extension, also in much of Europe) in a village society [before the first world war].
For light entertainment -- if I recall correctly, you served in the Navy -- I'd also put in The Wolf's Call [wikipedia.org], an unusual (in the sense of near-Hollywoodian in terms of military heroism) French movie about modern submarine warfare.
As to pure cinema, simply check the winners of the Berlinale [berlinale.de], the Venice Film Festival [labiennale.org], and the Film Festival of Cannes [festival-cannes.com] (best start with the Prix Un Certain Regard there).
(Score: 1) by pTamok on Monday January 02, @09:04AM
I'll add a few more as I remember them.
Un Chien Andalou (1929): Director Luis Buñuel [wikipedia.org]
Extase (1933): Director Gustav Machatý [wikipedia.org] - and it has 'an effect [medium.com]' on the USA.
I'd add the Don Camillo & Peppone films [wikipedia.org] of the '50s and 60's, which have a backdrop of early post-war Italy. No 'great' films, but part of the collective consciousness. I prefer the books (which I read in English translation). A possible French 'equivalent' are the Mr. Hulot films of Jacques Tati [wikipedia.org] from the '50s and '60s.
Dinner for One (1963): Director Heinz Dunkhase [wikipedia.org] Hugely popular short Christmas/New Year film in parts of Europe.
Belle de Jour (1967): Director Luis Buñuel [wikipedia.org]
Last Tango in Paris (1972): Director Bernardo Bertolucci [wikipedia.org] Not to my taste, but was notorious.
Tři oříšky pro Popelku (1973): Director Václav Vorlíček [wikipedia.org] Still very popular as a Christmas film in parts of Europe. There is a recent Norwegian remake.
I should have given links to
The Draughtsman's Contract (1982): Director Peter Greenaway [wikipedia.org]
Drowning by Numbers (1988): Director Peter Greenaway [wikipedia.org]
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989): Director Peter Greenaway [wikipedia.org]
The Name of the Rose (1986): Director Jean-Jacques Annaud, Producer Bernd Eichinger [wikipedia.org]
Other have mentioned Downfall (2004): Director Oliver Hirschbiegel, Producer Bernd Eichinger [wikipedia.org]
Also not to my taste, but other people view the Three Colours Trilogy favourably:
Three Colours: Blue (1993), Three Colours: White (1994), and Three Colours: Red (1994): Director Krzysztof Kieślowski [wikipedia.org]
and you can see what French film critic thought were good here: French Syndicate of Cinema Critics [wikipedia.org]
Best Spanish Films : The Goya Awards [wikipedia.org]
Someone mentioned the British TV series Dad's Army [wikipedia.org] earlier. I'd say that a lot of popular TV series give a good feeling for 'local' culture. Often what is popular isn't 'great' as in 'great literature', but echoes collective feelings about the local world, so worth looking out for. There's one particular Danish TV series Matador [wikipedia.org] which is embedded in Danish culture, and you'll find similar examples everywhere. The Monty Python [wikipedia.org] oeuvre is similarly embedded in British culture. I don't have good examples for French, German, Italian, Spanish...etc equivalents, so I'd appreciate some pointers.