Viewing the French Channel

I had an interesting experience this evening. I ended up at my good friend's place, and after a marathon of Wii Sports Resort we decided to switch off the video games and watch some television. After channel surfing, we happened upon a screening of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Only problem is: it was in French, and neither of us speak it. She hadn't seen the movie; she's seen the first Pirates and about half of the second, but we decided to watch a bit of it. I've seen all three numerous times, but it has been about a year, so I was giving her information about the plot from memory. It surprised me just how much detail I was able to give her, and how watching it with my commentary made it almost make sense for her. Ultimately, we tired of putting up with the poor dubbing, and changed the channel.

The experience made me think though. Is there a movie out there that would be great, or even better if you couldn't understand it? If the characters spoke a different language, and you had to decide what was going on through action alone. I can't think of any off the top of my head. There is one that would certainly be very bizarre without the subtitles. It's called Battle Royale. The basic premise is this: a class of high school students are sent to an island, given weapons, and told to kill each other. The last one standing "wins". I saw it after reading the book so it wouldn't be nearly as bizarre to me. I can just imagine it from the perspective of someone watching it un-subtitled, and without any prior knowledge, I think it'd be rather frightening.

Now I'm kind of feeling a Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, and a Battle Royale double feature. What a strange combination. If anyone is interested in watching Battle Royale, I'd like to advise that the sequel is not much good. It brings up some very interesting points, but ultimately, it was poorly executed. Not a complete waste of time, but not a film I'd watch again (which is a shame because I got the two of them as a package). The first one is quite good though.