Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Bitter Rice Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov January 8, 2016

Nominated for Oscar Award for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story, Giuseppe De Santis' "Bitter Rise" a.k.a. "Riso Amaro" (1949) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an original Italian trailer for the film; documentary film produced by Carlo Lizzani; and archival interview with Carlo Lizzani. The release also arrives with an illustrated leaflet featuring critic Pasquale Iannone's essay "A Filed in Italy". In Italian, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The rice fields

They meet on a busy train station in Northern Italy. Silvana (Silvana Mangano, Theorem, Conversation Piece) is heading to the big rice fields in the Po Valley. The work there won’t be easy, but Silvana is visibly excited because she realizes how lucky she is to have been contracted by the owner of the fields. Francesca (Doris Dowling, The Lost Weekend) has no idea where she is going. She is following her lover, Walter (Vittorio Gassman, Il Sorpasso, Scent of a Woman), who has stolen a valuable piece of jewelry and is trying to get away from two detectives that have been chasing him. When the detectives appear and force Walter to run away, Francesca pretends to be a worker and follows Silvana on the train.

At the rice fields Francesca discovers that there are other women like her -- without a contract -- who have come uninvited. The guards call them “illegals” and urge them to go back home. But the “illegals” unite and with the help of the rest of the women convince the owner to allow them to stay and work on the fields.

While the women are trying to settle down, Silvana is approached by Marco (Raf Valone, Therese Raquin, La Ciociara), a handsome sergeant who is about to be discharged. There is an instant spark between them, but Silvana teases Marco and makes him realize that he will have to earn her love. Francesca also likes Marco and tries to talk to him, but he rarely has time for her. A few unexpected events then create a lot of tension between the three.

Eventually, Walter reappears and convinces a few local scammers to help him steal the rice that is to be distributed amongst the workers before they are sent home. But heir plan backfires when Francesca confronts him and then makes an important revelation.

There are clear leftist messages everywhere, but Bitter Rice isn’t a political film. It offers a slice of Italian post-war reality which was defined by various popular but rather naïve ideas, such as the one that worker solidarity is a fundamental attitude that can change even seemingly hopeless situations. (After the end of the war life in rural Italy was extremely difficult and the types of sacrifices that are seen in the film were indeed very common).

Silvana Mangano’s electrifying performance, however, shifts Bitter Rice away from the other big Italian neorealist films (Luchino Visconti’s La terra trema: Episodio del mare, Roberto Rossellini’s Germany, Year Zero). Here she is a star and the camera is very much aware of it. It wants to be close to her and seeks to capture her emotions. Of course there are hundreds of unprofessional actors that can be seen as well, but Mangano is truly overpowering.

And yet Bitter Rice lacks the star environment that Hollywood producers undoubtedly would have infused in it. There is simplicity and rawness in the visuals and behind them a genuine desire to capture the organic beauty of life in the Italian countryside.

Director Giuseppe De Santis shot Bitter Rice with the great cinematographer Otello Martelli, who lensed some of Italian cinema’s greatest masterpieces (La Dolce Vita, La Strada, Stromboli, Paisà).

Bitter Rice Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Giuseppe De Santis' Bitter Rice arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the leaflet provided with this Blu-ray release:

"This new high-definition transfer was created on a Spirit DataCine film scanner from the 35mm original camera negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, and flicker were manually removed using MTI's DRS, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for small dirt, grain, and jitter. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from the optical track print. Clicks, thumps, hiss, hum, and crackle were manually removed using Pro Tools HD and iZotope RX4.

Transfer supervisor: Lee Kline.
Colorist: Roberto Cesario/Cinecitta Digital Factory, Rome."

The new transfer is very good. I did some direct comparisons with the old R2 Italian DVD release and can confirm that the improvements in terms of detail, clarity, and especially depth are quite remarkable. Even in areas where it is obvious that time has left its mark the improvements are substantial. The image is also much better balanced -- there is a wider range of nuanced grays that is simply missing on the old DVD release. Grain is retained quite well, but there are some inherited density fluctuations. The most obvious ones occur before or after select transitions, though they never become overly distracting. There are no traces of compromising sharpening adjustments.

On my disc there appears to be a small mastering defect. There is a short sequence with multiple quick skips/dropped frames which begins at 01.17.59 and ends around 01.18.10. They can be seen as the ill girl slowly walks down the stairs. At the moment I do not know if the defect appears only on my disc, but I have contacted Criterion and will make a clarification when I have proper information. I have a market version of Bitter Rice.

Update: Criterion have informed me that there are missing frames on the element (original camera negative) they used to produce the master for the Blu-ray release. These frames are present on the earlier Italian DVD release from Cristaldi Film which was sourced from a print.

(Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Bitter Rice Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Italian LPCM 1.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

It is not surprising that the range of nuanced dynamics is quite limited. Like the overwhelming majority of the neorelist films, Bitter Rice has a unique organic sound design. Balance and fluidity, however, are clearly improved, and the high-frequencies are a lot more stable. There are no audio dropouts or digital distortions to report in our review.

Bitter Rice Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original Italian trailer for Bitter Rice. In Italian, with optional English subtitles. (4 min, 1080p).

• Giuseppe De Santis (2008) - this documentary film was produced by Carlo Lizzanni, who was one of the writers that worked on the script for Bitter Rice. (Carlo Lizzanni also had a prolific career as a director. His directing credits include such films as Wake Up and Kill, Requiescant, Love in the City, and Kleinhoff Hotel). The film takes a closer look at the life and legacy of Giuseppe De Santis and the production history and success of Bitter Rice. Included in it are clips from archival interviews with Carlo Lizzani, Giuseppe De Santis, director Ettore Scola (A Special Day), and actors Sabrina Ferilli (The Great Beauty), Lino Capolicchio (The Garden of the Finzi Contini), Francesca Neri (The Ages of Lulu, Hannibal), and Massimo Girotti (Facing Windows), amongst others. In Italian, with optional English subtitles. (53 min, 1080i).

• Carlo Lizzani - in this archival video interview, Carlo Lizzani recalls how he became involved with Bitter Rice, and discusses the casting process and the shooting of the film. In Italian, with optional English subtitles. (7 min, 1080i).

• Leaflet - an illustrated leaflet featuring critic Pasquale Iannone's essay "A Filed in Italy".

Bitter Rice Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The beautiful Silvana Mangano is mesmerizing as a naive country girl who travels to the rice fields in the Po Valley and falls in love with a dangerous thief on the run in this legendary film from the great director Giuseppe De Santis. Bitter Rice looks wonderful in high-definition, and on this upcoming release there is also a fantastic documentary from Carlo Lizzanni, who worked with De Santis on the film's script. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.