Several Pitt-Johnstown faculty members and students say the inclusion of subtitles in popular American films last year are beneficial to the cinematic experience, as well as one’s understanding of foreign languages.

A few American films last year –“Inglourious Basterds,” “District 9” and “Avatar”– featured English subtitles, since all had foreign-language-speaking characters.

Set in Nazi-occupied France during World War II, “Inglourious Basterds” features most of its dialogue in French and German.

The Quentin Tarantino-directed film was marketed as starring Brad Pitt, although he is not the character with the most screen time. French actress Melanie Laurent or Austrian thespian Christoph Waltz dominated the screen time spotlight.

The film appears to have struck a chord among some students and faculty members, many praising the film’s accurate ‘40s-era depiction and the many foreign languages featured.

“He (Tarantino) has evoked the actual era. He did it very accurately,” German professor Delores Buttry said.

Buttry praised the film’s adherence to getting the era’s details just right, including the uniforms that the Nazi officers and soldiers wore, as well as the depiction of Paris.

She normally does not appreciate Tarantino’s films, many of which are excessively violent, profane and comic book-inspired (such as “Kill Bill”), but this film was an exception for her.

Buttry despises the oft-used Hollywood practice of having American actors portray foreign historical figures in Hollywood films, such as having Tom Cruise portray a German army officer in “Valkyrie.” “Basterds” was different, however.

“He (Tarantino) was smart. He found German and Austrian actors to play the parts,” Buttry said.

Buttry, Spanish professor Alvaro Bernal and French professor Barbara Petrosky hold a foreign film series during every fall semester.

Two films from each language that the professors teach is shown, which means that a foreign-language film is shown every two to three weeks during the semester. These films feature English subtitles, otherwise the films may be incomprehensible.

Buttry said she plans for “Inglourious Basterds” to be included among the films in next fall’s foreign film series.

Many students showed an appreciation for the frequency of subtitles in American films.

“I don’t mind them because it doesn’t take much effort to read subtitles. Some of the best movies are in foreign languages,” junior Brendan Mackey said.

Link was specifically referring to the film “District 9,” set in Johannesburg, South Africa, which features a great deal of dialogue in the alien characters’ native language, as well as characters speaking Afrikaans.

There are some students, however, who do not appreciate reading subtitles because they cannot follow a film’s action while simultaneously reading subtitles.

“They annoy me because they distract from the picture,” said sophomore Gina Markle.

Bernal said that English subtitles often fail to capture many sematic and cultural aspects that translations never get, but subtitles are often essential for a film to receive worldwide exposure.

Buttry said subtitles should still be appreciated by those people who detest them or who find them annoying for the important way they enhance a foreign film’s viewing for the audience.

“They (film audiences) should put up with the inconvenience of the subtitles because they can still enjoy the movie.”