- Aspect Ratio: 1:78:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
- Audio Codec: Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, PCM 2.0 Stereo
- Subtitles: English
- Region: A (Region-Locked)
- Rating: R
- Run Time: 151 Mins.
- Discs: 1 (1 x Blu-ray)
- Studio: Image Entertainment
- Blu-ray Release Date: October 18th, 2011
- List Price: $29.99
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Purchase Baaria on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Film
[Rating:4.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
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The Film
[Rating:4.5/5]
Baaria follows the story of Peppino (Francesco Scianna) throughout his life starting in childhood finally culminating in his older years. Growing up, Peppino faces the ever changing political landscape of his country of Bagheria, a small town in Sicily. He ends up falling in love with Manniana (Margareth Made), of which the two raise a family. Despite the presence of children in his life, his political mind and desires still drag Peppino away from his family. Spanning over many decades, Director Tornatore has crafted a film that really can appeal to anyone thanks in part to his subjects of love, friendship and death.
Of most importance here is how Tornatore handles these aforementioned subject matters. The idea of showing a man, heck not even a man…a person, progressing through life, finding a soulmate, raising a family, growing old. This is all something each and every one of us can relate to. Regardless of language, creed or race, we can tell a story of love, of friendship, of death. Tornatore draws on not only the character of Peppino to speak on his physical raising, but also the stunning performance by Scianna.
Scianna, someone I never knew before this film, captures every single essence of what a person deals with. For instance, take a look at one of the initial sequences where he meets Manniana. Like we all are when we meet that special someone, Peppino is nervous and his inner being questions his words, his actions. All of us have gone through this before. That is what makes Baaria such a fine film. Regardless of being familiar with either the physical setting or the language, something we’re all familiar with is what is contained within.
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Baaria arrives with an AVC MPEG-4 transfer. Of first note is that the film was shown theatrically at 2:35:1, but this Blu-ray is at 1:78:1. There’s no clear reason as to why this was done. With that said, I still found the image to be pleasing throughout. The film’s color palette features a rather smooth, clean looking image. Whites, yellows and other sun-soaked colors dominate the film. Darker moments look good as well but do occasionally lose a bit of clarity (take a look at some of the screen captures below for further evidence). Grain is kept in check while the film’s print seems to be in fine condition. I would’ve given this a 4 out 5 but the strong aspect ratio difference makes me drop this 1/2 a point.
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
The film’s original Italian language track is offered up in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 with English subtitles. Of note, despite turning them off the subtitles remained as evident above. Dialogue is well reproduced. I found the story easy to follow along with the subtitles. LFE is deep at key moments offering up a nice, solid ‘oomph’. Atmosphere is great providing a true sense of us being right in the middle of the fray. Dynamics all but add to the atmosphere creating key background moments that do make us glance around the room. Pans from left rear to right rear are virtually invisible making us realize this is a clean aural experience.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
The supplements provided are solid, with the highlight being an Audio Commentary. All features are provided in Standard Definition.
- Audio Commentary with Director Giuseppe Tornatore – Easily the best feature provided. Tornatore provides quite the insight into the film’s creation as well as the vision he had in filming.
- Behind-the-Scenes – This runs just shy of 30 minutes and essentially is a collection of interviews mixed in with film footage.
- Interview with the Director – This interview runs 26 minutes in length and is narrated by Mario Sesti. Musical selection is mostly discussed as is aspects mentioned in the above commentary.
- Deleted Scenes – A brief (2 minutes) scene is shown.
- Special Event – The film’s premier at the Venice Film Festival is briefly shown in a feature that runs around 15 minutes.
- Galleries
- Trailer
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:3/5]
Image Entertainment has brought a fine film to Blu-ray. Dealing with subject matters we’re all too familiar with, Image has put together a fine Blu-ray with equally good video and audio as well as features. Recommended.
Additional Screen Captures
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[amazon-product]B00598O9V4[/amazon-product]
Purchase Baaria on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Film
[Rating:4.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
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