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Subtitles

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We've all seen the stereotypical, badly dubbed Kung Fu movies, and laughed. There's a reason for that, dubbing is ridiculous. I consider myself as someone who watches a lot of movies, vast quantities of foreign films included, and I have yet to prefer a dubbed version over the subtitled one. Unless it's a kid's movie, where the audience might not be able to read, I don't even see the point of dubbing. I know that sometimes, foreign films are dubbed by big name English speaking stars to bring more publicity to the film, but that just seems to cheapen the work the foreign actors did. I cannot imagine that as an actor, you would want someone else putting their own technique and take on a character, plot, etc, and literally putting words into your mouth.

The worst example that I have ever seen of the very soul being taken from a film due to dubbing, is "Le Pact de Lupes" or "Brotherhood of the Wolf." This is not only my favorite foreign film, but one of my favorites in general. The effects are amazing, there's plenty of action and intrigue, nd in its original state, the male actors come across as manly and intense. The dvd offers the film dubbed in English, so, one night I gave it a try. I guess with all the new fangled technology, matching up words with the movement of the mouth isn't so much of a problem, in fact, it wasn't distracting at all. What was distracting, and just bad, was how terribly the dubbed voices matched against the voices of the actors. It was terrible watching the badass Manny, a Native American, speak in a very high pitched, nasal voice, or having the lead actresses sound like fourteen year old girls. Not only that, but it's like the dubbed voices aren't even trying to put emotion in their performance, it's like listening to a bad book on a tape or a dry reading.

In my experience, this is the worst problem of the contemporary dubbed films. It's great when they can get the real actors to dub their own movies, which sometimes happens, but not nearly enough. Or, if it's done by other actors, can't the get actors that are native speakers of wherever the film comes from. I'm tired of watching Italian and French films dubbed by actors with Brooklyn accents.

Subtitles are definitely the way to go. It can help you brush up on a language or simply attune your ear to a new one. As a movie goes along, I am also always surprised at how natural and easy reading subtitles is. They really become a non issue, and often, when I think back on the movie, the lines that were in a foreign language, pop up in my mind in English. It's really cool. Subtitles only become a problem if you've downed a bit too much of the vino. So, maybe, just make sure foreign films are watched while sober if subtitles are difficult for you. Otherwise, they're the best way for a person to watch a foreign film.

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