Understanding Culture through Movies

[M.2]

I was inspired to start this thread by the last conversation with Bill Whittle. I would like this to be a thread on which people share movies and TV series that give an accurate depiction of a culture, so that we can learn about them. By "accurate" however, I do not necessarily mean "historically accurate", but rather something that accurately portrays the mentality of the culture. For some reason, such movies are very underrated.

I am currently looking for good movies that accurately represent China, Germany, France, Iran, Turkey. If anyone has any ideas, please post.

My suggestions:

Japan: Outrage and Beyond Outrage. Japanese Yakuza films, directed by Takeshi Kitano. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1462667/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1724962/

Russia: The Admiral. Russian Civil War era about White Russian admiral Kolchak. (not the 124 minute version,but the 500 minute version) Most beautiful movie ever. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1542498/

North Korea: The Crossing . About North Korean dissidents who escape through Manchuria to Mongolia. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1133922/

WW2 Japan and Korea: My Way. Most accurate ww2 movie ever. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1606384/

 

[plato85]

I highly recommend the Kenneth Clark's BBC documentary series 'Civilisation' which depicts European Civilisation though the ages. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264234/

Also 'The Ascent of Man' is a similar documentary series. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069733/