A Bullet in the Head (1990 film)
1990 film by Attila Bertalan
A Bullet in the Head (French: Une balle dans la tête) is a 1990 Canadian drama film directed by Attila Bertalan. The film was selected as the Canadian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 64th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.
Summary
The film centres on a soldier, wounded in war, who is struggling to survive after being trapped behind enemy lines.
The film's dialogue is spoken entirely in an invented language.
Reception and legacy
Film historian Peter Cowie called it "a nightmarish fairytale about the absurdity and futility of war."
It was the first film ever selected as Canada's submission to the Academy Award competition for Best Foreign Language Film which was not in French, and one of just four such films overall alongside the later Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, Water, Eternal Spring. and The Things You Kill.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “A Bullet in the Head (1990 film)” is 1990 film by Attila Bertalan. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Bullet, Head and film, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “1990 film by Attila Bertalan” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q21646205. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1990.
Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “A Bullet in the Head (1990 film)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.