LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Chinese entry is full of mystical martial arts while Mexico provides priests and a young virgin (not for long!). Meanwhile, the Dutch candidate features three sisters trying to prevent their gay brother from marrying.

This year's foreign-language Oscar nominees offer a colorful collection of movies that have stirred sometimes heated emotions in their native lands.

But the category has generated considerable debate this year about the movies that didn't make it, mostly notably "Talk to Her," directed by Spain's Pedro Almodovar, who landed the prize for 1999's "All About My Mother."

"Talk to Her" -- a film about communication in which the central character is a comatose young woman -- has won Almodovar Oscar nominations for best director and original screenplay and was the foreign-language film choice at the Golden Globes and Britain's BAFTA awards.

But Spain controversially selected "Mondays in the Sun," a film about shipbuilders adjusting to unemployment, as the country's Oscar entry, knocking Almodovar out of the running. The country's choice did not make the final five.

Those nominated include "El Crimen del Padre Amaro," directed by Carlos Carrera, a huge hit in Mexico, where it broke box office records for a home-grown movie.

CHURCH CORRUPTION

The movie's portrayal of church corruption provoked fierce criticism from some in the strongly Roman Catholic country, but was coolly received by U.S. critics, some of whom likened it to a soap opera.

Gael Garcia Bernal stars as a young priest led down a dark path by his lust for a 16-year-old girl, who at one point he dresses up to look like the Virgin Mary. His fellow priests are shown in a barely more favorable light.

Mexican cinema is enjoying a major revival this year, with Salma Hayek becoming the first Mexican woman in the Oscar's 75 year history to be nominated for best actress, for her portrayal of artist Frida Kahlo in "Frida."

Brothers Carlos and Alfonso Cuaron were nominated in the original screenplay category for "Y Tu Mama Tambien," a coming- of-age drama which also stars Gael Garcia Bernal.

Box office records have also been broken by the Chinese Oscar entrant, "Hero," directed by the legendary Zhang Yimou, who is possibly best known for the 1991 movie "Raise the Red Lantern." That film also received an Oscar nomination in the category.

"Hero" is the highest grossing Chinese movie not only in China but also in several other Asian countries. It was awarded the Alfred Bauer prize at the Berlin film festival, presented to a work of particular innovation.

The movie is based on power struggles in China during the third century B.C., known as "The Warring States Period," and a time of endless brutal wars and much suffering and hardship.

VISUAL SPLENDOR

"Hero" has been praised for its visual splendor and shares the same producer, Bill Kong, as the 2000 Taiwanese movie "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," which landed four Oscars and was a huge box office hit in the United States.

German movie "Nowhere in Africa," directed by Caroline Link, tells of the challenges faced by a Jewish family as they flee to Kenya after the Nazis gain control of their native country.

The couple's marriage is strained both by their displacement and by the grim news about the fate of loved ones filtering out of Germany while their daughter embraces the new world and thrives.

"Nowhere in Africa" is seen by some as the front-runner to land the award. Link was previously nominated in the category for her 1996 movie "Beyond Silence."

The other two nominees are both comedies.

Finland's "The Man Without a Past," directed by Aki Kaurismaki, is a comedy about a man who develops amnesia following a mugging and builds a new life among society's outcasts, finding love, music and the Salvation Army.

It landed several awards at the Cannes film festival