The Current Discussion: The Academy Awards are coming, and an Indian movie, "Slumdog Millionaire," could win best picture. But what are we overlooking? What's the best non-Hollywood movie you saw this year?

"Waltz with Bashir" was, hands down, the best non-Hollywood movie I saw this year. It's not only visually imaginative but also heart-breaking. The movie represents an exercise in national introspection. It is also an admirable and deeply artistic act of contrition. What happened at Sabra and Shatila in the early eighties has long been a burden on the conscience of Israel. This movie's power comes from its unflinching willingness to see the brutality of war directly in the eye, with all the complexities and contradictions it entails. By the end of the movie, when director Ari Folman finally breaks away from animation and takes the audience near the dead, one can feel the weight of guilt and then, strikingly, something close to an authentic catharsis. The world now waits for a similar exercise from a moderate Islamic filmmaker.