I have a few other fave non-English-language films which haven't been discussed much before.
Jesus of Montreal,directed by Denys Arcand, is a wonderfully original take on the life of Jesus told through a modern Canadian theatre troupe recreating his life story. It's amazing how such a humorous and "profane" film can also be deeply moving and thought-provoking. Lothaire Bluteau is awe-inspiring playing the actor who BECOMES Jesus. The camaraderie depicted by his "Disciples" is equally affecting. Even so, I will warn you that this is probably the only film about Jesus where you will see an animated movie about the Big Bang and actors dubbing in the filthy, yet hilarious, dialogue of a hardcore porno film (no graphic images shown).
The 1965 Czech film,
The Shop on Main Street, directed by Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos, is another deceptively humorous film, set during WWII, about how all the Jewish shopkeepers in a Slovakian town help support a poor old lady (Ida Kaminska), who "owns" a button shop but has no assets at all. Jozef Króner is unwillingly assigned to be the woman's "Aryan controller" and a bond forms between the two. The final 40 minutes are as harrowing as anything you can imagine, showing how the Jews are forced on their Sabbath to present themselves for "processing and transport".
My fave non-English-language animation is Bruno Bozzetto's
Allegro non troppo (1977).
It's a double-edged satire. In the animated segments, there are wonderful comments on similar episodes in Walt Disney's
Fantasia. But, almost half the film is a live-action, b&w slapstick spoof of Fellini! The cartoons we see are being drawn by a slave animator (Nino Manfredi), who's forced to draw by a malevolent conductor while he leads his orchestra, consisting entirely of little old ladies, in the playing of the classical music (Ravel, Sibelius, Debussy, Stravinsky, Vivaldi, Dvorák) heard during the animaton. Thus, the film mixes the ridiculousness of the Three Stooges with the sublime music and visuals. Plus, all the stories contain plenty of food for thought since Bozzetto is a political satirist.