Movie Reviews

This groundbreaking film (the first independent ever to receive the top four Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Director for Hector Babenco), adapted for the screen by Academy Award nominated screenwriter Leonard Schrader from Manuel Puig's novel set in a non-specific Latin American country, takes a penetrating look at the role of sex and politics under an oppressive right-wing regime. The timeless story, more relevant today than ever, follows the complex relationship between two distinctly different men with opposite views about life - building with powerful emotional crescendo as they gradually come together in a stunningly transcendental conclusion.

In a surprise move this one was released to Blu-ray exclusively through Amazon, so if you go looking for it in stores, you may be disappointed. It had been a long time since I’d seen this film and the material still holds up well. William Hurt is perfect as the homosexual cell mate of freedom fighter Raul Julia and the back and forth between the two men make for great drama. The themes still hold up well and despite the limited budget the film delivered a lot for what it had to work with.

I wasn’t expecting much in terms of video presentation on this one. I’ve seen this on cable and it never looks that great. The Blu-ray is a nice step up from the standard broadcasts I’ve seen, but a far cry from the better HD releases out there. A lot of the film is flashback to an old German film (created for this of course) and it looks incredibly soft and flat. The cell sequences improve a bit but film wear is obvious and fine detail is lacking. Brighter sequences do hold up well though with better dimension and resolution more along the lines of what we’d expect from an HD release. Overall though, this is a pretty mixed bag.

The audio is presented in its original mono or a 5.1 Dolby Digital mix. You won’t find any new audio format support here. I listened to the 5.1 mix but it is largely front heavy. Despite this, the track does have a nice sense of depth and the front soundstage is pretty open. Surrounds don’t really play much of a part but the dynamic range is impressive on occasion. Dialogue sounds very natural in tone and I didn’t detect any strain or harshness in the mix.

This collector’s edition features a feature length making of feature that has behind the scenes footage and extensive interviews and commentary on the film’s production and impact. Some trailers are also included.

It is great to see classic independent films make their way to Blu-ray. While I can’t say this is one of the better HD presentations out there, they made the most out of what they had. Fans of the film will probably be more than pleased.