I have to agree, though I'd say it goes beyond just a "neat storytelling trick".
IMHO, someone has finally figured out a good way to use foreign languages in a film to set mood and advance the story, without resorting to subtitles, which rips your attention away from what's going on.
Part of the beauty of the technique is it's subtleness. It's so intuitive of a way of handling languanges that not many people noticed it (granted the pain of the rest of the movie may have distracted people). In all fairness, it's the use of sublte techniques like sound tracks and mood music that can turn a merely good movie into a great one, or in battlefield earth's case, turn a pile of wasted celluloid into something at least worth paying attention to.
I won't go so far as to call it genius, but it is clever, and probably brilliant, and most definately something more directors and producers should consider when making their next film.
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I have to agree, though I'd say it goes beyond just a "neat storytelling trick".
IMHO, someone has finally figured out a good way to use foreign languages in a film to set mood and advance the story, without resorting to subtitles, which rips your attention away from what's going on.
Part of the beauty of the technique is it's subtleness. It's so intuitive of a way of handling languanges that not many people noticed it (granted the pain of the rest of the movie may have distracted people). In all fairness, it's the use of sublte techniques like sound tracks and mood music that can turn a merely good movie into a great one, or in battlefield earth's case, turn a pile of wasted celluloid into something at least worth paying attention to.
I won't go so far as to call it genius, but it is clever, and probably brilliant, and most definately something more directors and producers should consider when making their next film.