The only system more Byzantine, corruptible, and confusing than the one used to select the Oscar for Best Foreign Film is that used to select the site of the Olympics.

Every year, roughly 50 movies – ranging from art house hits and commercial blockbusters, to obscure festival favorites, to government-approved banalities – are submitted by the nations of the world. They are then winnowed, by an occult process, to five final nominees that are, invariably, both entirely arbitrary and completely predictable.

This year’s nominees are the AIDS drama “Yesterday” (from South Africa); the feel-good, sing-along film, “The Choir” (France); “The Sea Inside” (Spain), an advertisement for euthanasia; the Hitler biopic “Downfall” (Germany); and “As It Is In Heaven” (Sweden), about a conductor recovering from a heart attack. The list hardly represents to the United States domestic audience a true picture of the most vibrant, interesting, and entertaining work being done abroad. In most cases, it doesn’t even represent the best work being done in each of those countries.

There is a fair argument to be made, for instance, that the best overall picture released in the United States this year was Zhang Yimou’s “Hero.” It’s got everything the Academy typically looks for in an American or English production: artistic ambitiousness, directorial skill, and old-fashioned Hollywood entertainment values. Released in the United States last August, it quickly became the third-highest-grossing foreign film ever in this country, bringing in more than $50 million.

Yet it is ineligible for the best foreign film Oscar – or for any other, for that matter. Why? Because it was submitted by China in 2003, when it lost to the completely unknown German film, “Nowhere in Africa.” This year China nominated Mr. Zhang’s follow-up, “House of Flying Daggers,” a good but certainly inferior film.

This is hardly the first time the Academy’s selection committee has made the wrong choices. Sure, some years a deserving film, such as “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” or “All About My Mother” will win. But other years a dud like “No Man’s Land” beats “Amelie,” or “City of God” gets bumped out of competition on a technicality, allowing a win by “The Barbarian Invasions.”

In fact, the Academy’s system – if you can call it that – encourages such seemingly bizarre results. The main problem is the Academy’s Draconian and arbitrary eligibility rules. Movies must be released for a minimum of seven days in their home countries – but only between November of the year before and September of the current year. They needn’t have been released in the United States at all.

This is the real problem. It is the reason why no one (except the producers and directors of the winning film) cares about the result announced on Oscar night. It’s also why most of the foreign films that do strike a chord with audiences – in America and elsewhere – never get acknowledgement from the Academy. The purpose of this rule, undoubtedly, is to honor new work. Its effect, however, is to reinforce in the mind of the American moviegoers the idea of world cinema as categorically different and – literally – inaccessible.

To understand what’s wrong with the process, take a close look at the full list of 49 movies, nominated by their countries of origin, that the Academy’s own foreign-film nominating committee uses as its starting point. (We’ve printed a full list inside, along with how you can see many of these films – either in the theater or on DVD – in the coming months.)

The countries of origin for this year’s five final nominees are no surprise: France, Spain, Germany, and Sweden have accumulated a total of 76 nominations between them since the award category was established in 1956; France alone has received more nominations than all of the countries in Latin America, South America, Asia, and Africa combined.

But the list the Academy’s committee had to choose from this year did include many fine films from other countries. “House of Flying Daggers,” Lars von Trier’s “The Five Obstructions,” and Japan’s “Nobody Knows” are all, to my mind, more worthy than what got nominated. Korea’s “Tae Guk Gi” does for the Korean War what “Saving Private Ryan” did for World War II.

The Academy can’t vote on movies that aren’t even submitted for consideration, however. So the Senegalese “Moolaade,” Ousmane Sembene’s masterpiece about female circumcision, was out of the running. Mongolia’s “Story of the Weeping Camel” was one of the surprise hits of the year, as was Korea’s “Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter … and Spring.” Both were absent from the 49 submissions, as their countries of origin chose to submit something else. (Why only one film per country? It’s easier on the Academy members’ eyes, presumably).

The composition of these national committes is another major problem. Each is supposed to be made up of “film professionals” whom the Academy assumes will send their very best films. The result? Russia’s submission, this year, was “Night Watch,” a special-effects blockbuster about warring vampires. The nomination of the film, which broke box-office records, seems curious until you notice that its star, Vladimir Menshov, is also the president of Russia’s committee.

France’s ambitious “A Very Long Engagement” by “Amelie” director Jean-Pierre Jenuet was ruled ineligible, because it was funded by Americans. Instead, France submitted “The Choir.” Spain chose not to submit “Bad Education” in favor of “The Sea Inside” one of this year’s bigger box-office bombs.

The Academy also doesn’t seem to give much thought to what actually constitutes a country. Palestine, Taiwan, and Hong Kong aren’t recognized by the UN, yet they all submit films. Even Wales has sent a movie to the Oscars.

Which films countries choose to submit tells a lot about how they want to be perceived by the rest of world. Thailand snubbed “Tropical Malady” – which won the Prix du Jury at Cannes – presumably because the film’s gay content violated the government’s recent order to cut down on the portrayals of homosexuals. Instead, they sent “The Overture,” a conventional story of Thailand’s last great classical musician, Luang Pradith Phairao.

Likewise, India has a tremendous sense of snobbish self-loathing toward its garish, all-singing, all-dancing musical love stories. It prefers to remind the world that it produced art-house master Satyajit Ray. Its submission this year was “Shwaas,” an absolute joy of a movie about a boy who has to have his eyes surgically removed in order to save his life.

Astoundingly, some 17 of the 49 submitted movies feature children. Japan’s “Nobody Knows,” for instance, features four ankle-biters who are abandoned by their mother and have to struggle to survive in their increasingly-filthy apartment; Chile’s “Machuca” gives us the story of Pinochet’s rise to power told from the point of view of two 11-year-old boys; and Ecuador’s “Cronicas” makes children the victims of choice for a serial killer.

War is another big theme. “Tae Guk Gi” from Korea covers the Korean War; Venzuela’s “Punto and Raya,” the escalating military tensions between Colombia and Venezuela. Children and war together are the subjects of “Turtles Can Fly,” an Iranian film about the invasion of Iraq. Afghanistan chimes in on the whole “cute kids at war” issue with “Earth and Ashes” about a man and his grandson who must make an epic trek to tell his son that their entire family has been killed in a bombing attack.

Maybe we’ll understand what is behind these trends next year, after we’ve seen more of the submitted films. But judging from the past, they are more likely a response to the maudlin taste of the Academy judges.

To me, the most interesting movies submitted – and the ones that do begin to hint at the real vitality and sheer weirdness out there – are a few that never had the slightest chance of being embraced by image-conscious Academy voters.

Hungary’s “Kontroll,” for instance, is a lowbrow genre film about mildly psychotic subway cops tracking down a killer who likes to push passengers in front of trains. Belgium’s “The Alzheimer Affair” combines the trendy disease movie with the less trendy revenge flick: An elderly hit man with Alzheimer’s goes on a killing spree and wipes out Belgian aristocrats involved in a child-prostitution ring.

Estonia’s naivete in the selection of its first-ever submission to the Academy Awards seems almost touching. Rather than pander to middle-class sentiments, they sent over “Revolution of Pigs” – a bawdy, “Porky’s”-esque, teen hump-fest set in a Socialist summer camp in the 1980s. These teens prefer break dancing and Duran Duran to Marxist theory, and counselor/camper tensions escalate – until a full-scale revolt breaks out.

“Estonian Pie” – who knew? Trust Hollywood to take a year when world cinema made its greatest mark on the American box office in a long time and reduce it to its most predictable elements.

The World According to The Motion Picture Academy

If you’ve ever wondered why you haven’t seen any of the nominated foreign films, it’s because most don’t screen in the United States – and more than likely never will. Below is the full list of movies submitted this year by each nation’s nominating committee; the final nominees are at right. You can see more in New York than anywhere else – and if you work very hard, get hold of DVDs of others. But if you don’t see it here, you’re probably out of luck.

Afghanistan Earth and Ashes

Argentina A Lost Embrace
Opens in New York today at Lincoln Plaza and Quad Cinemas

Austria Antares

Belgium The Alzheimer Case

Bosnia and Herzegovina Days and Hours

Brazil Olga

Bulgaria Mila From Mars

Canada Far Side of the Moon
Available on Region 1 DVD with English subtitles

Chile Machuca
At Film Forum until February 1

China House of Flying Daggers
In general release

Croatia Long Dark Night

Czech Republic Up and Down
Opens in New York on February 25

Denmark The Five Obstructions
Available on Region 1 DVD with English subtitles

Ecuador Cronicas
Opens in New York on May 27

Egypt I Love Cinema

Estonia Revolution of Pigs

Finland Producing Adults

France The Chorus
Opened January 14 at the Angelika and expands today to Clearview on First Avenue, at 62nd Street.

Germany Downfall
Playing at Walter Reade February 10 as part of Film Comment Selects; opens at Film Forum on February 18.

Greece A Touch of Spice

Hungary Kontroll
Happily will be available on an English-subtitled DVD from U.K. in March

Iceland Cold Light

India Shwaas
Played at the ImaginAsian; available on DVD with English subtitles.

Iran Turtles Can Fly
Playing on February 11 at Walter Reade as part of Film Comment Selects; opens February 18 at Lincoln Plaza.

Israel Campfire

Italy The House Keys
Screened for two weeks in New York and Los Angeles.

Japan Nobody Knows
Opens February 4 at Lincoln Plaza

Korea Tae Guk Gi
Screened in New York this year. Available now on Region 3 English-subtitled DVD in Chinatown or on Region 1 English-subtitled DVD on February 15.

Macedonia The Great Water

Malaysia A Legendary Love

Mexico Innocent Voices

The Netherlands Simon

Norway Hawaii Oslo

Palestine The Olive Harvest

Philippines Crying Ladies
Came and went in the U.S.; English subtitled DVD available online.

Poland The Welts

Portugal The Miracle According to Salome

Romania Orient-Express

Russia Night Watch
Region 5 DVD available online

Serbia and Montenegro Goose Feather

Slovenia Beneath Her Window

South Africa Yesterday

Spain The Sea Inside
In wide release.

Sweden As It Is In Heaven

Switzerland Mein Name Ist Bach

Taiwan 20:30:40
Available in Chinatown on an English subtitled Region 3 DVD and English subtitled VCD.

Thailand The Overture
To be released in Summer 2005.

Uruguay Whisky
To screen at MoMA as part of ‘Global Lens Film Series,’ starting March 3.

Venezuela Punto y Raya