Linguists and linguaphiles are always on the lookout for the next documentary about or in an endangered, rare, or even dead language to expand their knowledge and the time. But why should it be just documentaries and why should only linguists watch them?
From history buffs to general movie fans, when it comes to a good film in a language most people have never heard of, these are a great find for anyone. On this list, we have included films in foreign languages spoken by few people, spoken rarely by monolingual speakers, and even a couple of films in dead languages.
Volcano / Eldfjall (2011)
This Icelandic film, shot entirely in the Icelandic language, was projected during many film festivals in Europe and the Americas, and was nominated for a few awards at the Cannes Film Festival (amongst others). The movie tells the story of Hannes, an elderly man who is not on good with his children. His retirement hits him hard, only to be shortly followed by his wife suffering a stroke.
The unfortunate circumstances begin to soften the hardened and cold exterior of Hannes and he makes the first steps towards reconciliation with his children and atonement for his former ways. While far from a dead language, Icelandic is spoken by a relatively small number of people in the world, at just around 350,000.
Seachd: The Inaccessible Pinnacle (2007)
This movie, shot in Scottish Gaelic, was filmed near the Inaccessible Pinnacle at the peak of Mount Sgurr Dearg in the Cuillin mountain range on the Isle of Skye. Angus visits his dying granddad, eager to find out the truth behind his parents’ death and his grandfather's age-old, extraordinary, dreadful tales. These are tales from the Gàidhealtachd (Highlands and Islands of Scotland and particularly of their Scottish Gaelic-speaking tradition), history of tragic lovers, murderous revenge, and water-horses.
His granddad takes over Angus' life, driving him to one of Scotland's most dangerous mountaintops, the Inaccessible Pinnacle, and an olden truth he never anticipated to discover. The film was nominated for three BAFTAs. With only around 58,000 remaining Scottish Gaelic fluent speakers left, one study in 2020 reported that the language could be dead within a decade.
Calon Gaeth [Lit. Small Country] (2006)
This Welsh-language (with some English) drama film dealt with issues of familial obligation and personal fulfillment. It’s the year 1914 and Tom Evans brings along his fellow Oxford student, Edward, to spend their vacation on his parents’ estate in West Wales.
However, Tom gets a surprise when he gets back home. His father, Josi, has separated from his mother, Rachel, and is with the local teacher, Miriam, who’s carrying his baby. His daughter, Catrin, feels infuriated and deceived. When Catrin realizes she desires Edward, intimate sentiments are uncovered and each seeks the means to unchain a confined heart. With fewer than 1 million speakers, Welsh is not the rarest language on this list, but it has few speakers in the world when compared with other languages.
The First King: Birth Of An Empire / Il Primo Re (2019)
This Italian historical film was shot entirely in Old Latin, which was obsolete even in 75 BC (the beginning of the age of Classical Latin). It is a retelling of the legend of Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome.
At the beginning of the film, the two 18-year-old shepherd siblings are leading a quiet life close to the Tiber river. Persuaded that life has more to offer, Remus trusts that he is destined to become monarch of a city he will create tly with Romulus. Nonetheless, their tragic fate is preordained. This astonishing voyage will guide the brothers to forming one of the mightiest empires the world has known.
Gypsy / Cigán (2011)
Gypsy narrates the tale of Adam, a boy who, following his father’s death, attempts to travel beyond the edge of his Roma town to better the lives of his siblings. He comes across ethnic, societal, and cultural biases and finds himself engaged in a conflict with the unrecorded laws of his people. With circumstances working against him, he is driven to perform an appalling act.
This was Slovakia's official submission for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 84th Academy Awards, but it was not included in the shortlist. The film is shot mostly in Romani with some Slovakian. There are multiple Romani dialects and not all are mutually intelligible. Some are even considered separate languages, just similar to each other. Carpathian Romani is one of the groups of dialects of the Romani language spoken in the region of Slovakia and surrounding countries, with only around 150,000 speakers today.
The Orator / O Le Tulafale (2011)
This movie by Tusi Tamasese was the first Samoan feature film, “entirely shot in Samoa, in the Samoan language, with a Samoan cast and story.” According to a 2015 estimate, Samoan is spoken by 510.000 people, but today there could be even fewer. The Orator was New Zealand’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards (2012) but wasn’t shortlisted. Being the first Samoan film, it was the first film that New Zealand ever submitted for this category.
Saili, a villager and taro grower, leads a happy life with his wife Vaaiga and her young daughter Litia until he faces grave threats to his farm and his household. He’s also been deprived of his father’s legacy as chief. Saili will have to speak his mind in order to protect all that he holds dear.
Kings (2007)
This film, shot in Irish Gaelic and English, tells the story of a group of Irish friends and immigrants to England in the 70s who struggle with their status in their new country, their shifting national identity, and the lives they left behind. The boys leave the Connemara Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking region of Galway), heading to London and bursting with a desire for a better life. Thirty years later, they reunite at Jackie’s funeral, the group’s youngest.
The movie intermingles flashbacks of a misled youth in Ireland with contemporary life’s unforgiving truths. These 30 years have been tough. Gradually, the circumstances of Jackie's death get clearer and the friends realize they need what they used to have. Today, only 170,000 people speak Irish as their first language.
Arracht [Lit. Monster] (2019)
This 2019 Irish period drama by Tomás Ó Súilleabháin, shot mostly in Irish Gaelic, took place during the Great Irish Famine of the 19th century. Connemara, 1845: Colmán Sharkey, a fisherman, grower, and family man despairs as the Great Famine devastates his village. One ill-fated night, he challenges his landlord about increasing the rent for his lodgers as potato blight contaminates the harvest.
The trials of that night culminate in violence, forcing Colmán to run from the law because of a crime he didn't do amidst the starvation of the people of his township.
Time Of The Gypsies / Дом за вешање [Dom Za Vešanje, Lit. Home for Hanging] (1988)
This Yugoslavian coming-of-age fantasy drama by Emir Kusturica was shot in Romani and Serbo-Croatian (with a little Italian and English). It is considered one of Kusturica's best films. Yugoslavia as one country doesn't exist anymore, but the movie was filmed in Sarajevo in today's Bosnia-Herzegovina and in Skopje in today's North Macedonia, where the native dialect is Balkan Romani.
In this brilliant story unfolding in the region around Sarajevo and in Italy, Perhan, a young Romani boy with telekinetic abilities, is charmed by the cash-grab world of petty criminals, which jeopardizes his life and threatens to destroy those he loves.
The ion Of The Christ (2004)
This famous Biblical film is the highest-grossing Christian themed movie of all time and amongst the 10 highest-grossing R-rated films of all time. It was shot entirely in reconstructed Old/Middle Aramaic, Latin, and Hebrew. The film depicts the last 12 hours of Jesus’s life, hence the ions, as well as some other parts of his life in flashbacks.
The movie divided critics because it is especially graphic and brutal, showing, for example, the Scourging at the Pillar with too much realism for some people’s liking. Other critics found it quite powerful and intensely emotional. One thing is for certain: Jim Caviezel was brilliant in his performance as Jesus Christ.
