I'd go along with that.
IMO, all of his other films were any good because of the acting. This one was good because of the direction (although the acting was very good).
It's not the most uplifting movie, infact it is a continuous nightmare where the moment you think things are getting better they take a turn for the worse.
I think we can all relate to this film and the feeling of being stuck in a foreign place. The clever thing about this film is that the foreign place is so close to home but so far away.