The Quiet Girl - 1 nomination

Best International Feature Film

Ireland

When Cait's very pregnant mother and her abusive father decide that their household is too crowded for all of their children and the baby that is about to be born, they send her away to her cousin's home to live "for as long as the cousin would like." You definitely get the feeling that they don't care much if the girl ever returns home. While Cait's family lives in poverty in the Irish countryside with 5 about to be 6 siblings and a no-goodnick father who spends all of their money, their cousin Eibhlin (pronounced a bit like Eileen) and her husband Sean live in a house with running water and with relative wealth. At first, Sean is a bit reluctant to form a connection with Cait, but over time both Eibhlin and Sean form a deep attachment to the girl. Cait goes from being ignored or picked on without even proper shoes to wear to living with people who dote on her, take care of her, pay attention to her, and show her a great deal of kindness, and through their love, she transforms. What makes her circumstances so special is not the money, but simply Cait's ability to exhale, to live without fear of her abusive father, and to find joy in the smallest of things. She goes from being sent away to not wanting to return home.

While I wouldn't rank The Quiet Girl above some of the other International films that were on the short list for the Oscars, I did very much enjoy the movie. Interestingly, one of the funders of this film was the Institute for the Preservation of the Irish Language (don't quote me on the title of the Foundation, but this captures the gist), which means that the film was primarily in Irish and minimally in English. It's a very nice movie that's worth watching.