"The Wind Will Carry Us" was nominated for the prestigious Grand Prix of the Belgian Syndicate of Cinema Critics. After its screening at the 1999 Venice Film Festival, the film remained unreleased in the United States until 2000; ultimately, however, this was to its benefit, since it enjoyed a rediscovery among both the public and mainstream critics in the late 2000s after many critics named it one of the best films of that decade. "Variety"s Scott Foundas placed it ahead of Peter Watkins' "La Commune (Paris, 1871)" and Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood", writing: