Burn! Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.0

Burn! Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov March 5, 2023

Gillo Pontecorvo's "Burn!" (1969) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Via Vision Entertainment. The supplemental features on the release include exclusive new program with editor Mario Morra; new program with critic critic Ivelise Perniola; archival interview with the director; exclusive new program with critic Neil Sinyard. In English or Italian, with optional English SDH and English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

If you did not know much about William Walker and decided to educate yourself with the two famous films about the man and his exploits that were made in the 1960s and the 1980s, at the end of your viewing experience you will be utterly perplexed. What are the films? The first is Gillo Pontecorvo’s Burn!, also known as Queimada, and the second is Alex Cox’s Walker. While these films have completely different personalities and styles, which is hardly surprising, both are so manipulative that they effectively destroy the authentic profile of Walker that history books have preserved.

The original material for Burn! came from multiple places, one of which was a book by Norman Gant, but Pontecorvo and Marlon Brando improved and then changed so much of it that they made it their own. In fact, like Cox, Pontecorvo and Brando used Walker only as a blueprint for an entirely new character, one that is utterly incompatible with the period environment that made Walker a notable historic figure. While Cox was rather sincere about his creative efforts, Pontecorvo and Brando were not, which is arguably the main reason Burn! is impossible to describe as anything else but a colossal misfire.

In Burn!, Brando’s Walker is not an American. He is a skilled British emissary who arrives on the Caribbean Island of Queimada to organize a revolution that will have consequential ripple effects. If the revolution succeeds, the island’s Portuguese rulers will be replaced with British rulers that will recognize the people’s right to govern themselves but take over the lucrative sugarcane industry. At the right time, the emissary carefully brainwashes the ambitious, freedom-loving dock worker Jose Dolores (Evaristo Marquez) and he initiates a violent uprising that successfully replaces the Portuguese governor. Shortly after, Dolores becomes the head of a transitional government ready to permanently alter the island’s fate with the participation of the biggest slave owners, and as planned by the emissary the British promptly assume control of the sugarcane industry. But a decade later the emissary returns to the island to organize a coup so that the frustratingly inflexible Dolores, who has evolved into an idealistic dictator, is replaced with a new leader that will be content to have his strings pulled by London.

Fractured into multiple uneven episodes, Burn! is an expose of Pontecorvo’s political beliefs that is openly and unapologetically allergic to historic facts. Indeed, Burn! does not just reinvent Walker, it sends him on a fictional mission to a fictional island and places him in a fictional political drama that is used to pit the two dominant political ideologies that divided the post-WWII world. As a result, the majority of the exchanges between the main characters sound a lot like scripted deliveries of good and bad political slogans whose goal is to erase doubts about the superiority of one of these political ideologies.

Brando, who at the time was focused on making only “meaningful films”, is fully committed to this quite odd political circus and this is the main reason to see Burn!. Indeed, Brando gives a very surreal performance but not because he uses an astonishingly bad British accent and manners that everyone ignores. It is because Brando instantly becomes a strikingly repulsive and very transparent chameleon that quite simply is not right for any of the dramatic events Burn! chronicles. Especially when he does not speak, Brando looks a lot like a cowboy or an adventurous opportunist that is on a mission that would have been perfect in one of those exotic spaghetti westerns Pontecorvo’s countrymen loved to shoot at the time.

Pontecorvo’s direction is disappointingly sloppy as well. In The Battle of Algiers, Pontecorvo very effectively mixed semi-documentary and staged footage to create a genuinely tense atmosphere. In Burn!, the same approach creates choppy material that often looks like it was extracted from rushed rehearsals.

The great maestro Ennio Morricone created the original soundtrack for Burn!.

*Via Vision Entertainment's release presents two versions of Burn!: the Italian language version, which is approximately 129 minutes long, and the English language version, which is approximately 113 minutes long.

Burn! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.68:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Burn! arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Via Vision Entertainment.

There are two versions of Burn! on this release: the Italian language version, which is approximately 129 minutes long, and the English language version, which is approximately 113 minutes long. Both versions are sourced from an old master that was supplied by MGM.

I viewed the English version because virtually all of the important characters utter their lines in English, but sampled the Italian version as well. Both look equally underwhelming. Why? The existing master has a wide range of limitations that prevent the visuals to look as good and convincing as they should. For example, delineation and depth are often quite mediocre and in some areas do not look any better than what you would get from a fine upscale job. Clarity and sharpness are unconvincing as well. In darker areas, shadow definition can be quite poor and finer nuances are essentially lost. Color balance is stable but this is another area where many important improvements are needed so that the film looks as it should. Image stability is good. All in all, I think that Burn! will have to be fully restored so that it looks like the film Gillo Pontecorvo directed. My score is 2.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

Burn! Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 2.0 and Italian LPCM 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the former, and optional English subtitles are provided for the latter.

I viewed the English language version of the film. The dialog is easy to follow. However, in many areas, the audio could sound quite thin, even borderline brittle. Some of the thinness is inherited from the original soundtrack -- which by the way features quite a bit of overdubbing -- but I think that there is room for meaningful improvements. The good news is that there are no serious age-related anomalies, like pops and distortions.

Burn! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

DISC ONE - ENGLISH LANGUAGE VERSION

• "Gillo and Me" - in this exclusive new program, editor Mario Morra discusses his professional relationship with Gillo Pontecorvo and collaboration on Burn!. In Italian, with English subtitles (25 min).

• "A Family Affair" - in this exclusive new program, Marco Pontecorvo, son of Gillo Pontecorvo, and Picci, the director's wife, discuss the production of Burn!. There are some quite interesting comments about the director's working methods and his professional relationship with Marlon Brando as well. In Italian, with English subtitles (30 min).

• Archival Interview with Gillo Pontecorvo - in this archival video interview, Gillo Pontecorvo explains how Burn! came to exist. The interview was conducted in 1996. In Italian, with English subtitles (11 min).

• "Of Oppressors and Oppressed" - in this exclusive new program, critic Ivelise Perniola discusses the production of Burn!, its style and themes, and placement in Gillo Pontecorvo's body of work. In Italian, with English subtitles (34 min).

• "The Brando Interregnum: The Decade of Baron's Dirty Dozen" (1962-1972) - in this exclusive new video essay, critic Daniel Kremer discusses the evolution of Marlon Brando's acting career and his desire to make "socially relevant" films. In English, not subtitled. (21 min).

• Neil Sinyard on Burn! - in this exclusive new program, critic Neil Sinyard discusses Burn! and some of its more interesting themes. In English, not subtitled. (26 min).

• "The Stalwart Rebel: Brando in the 1960s" - in this exclusive new program, author/Marlon Brando biographer William J. Mann discusses the iconic actor's difficult relationship with Hollywood and his work and creative impulses and ideas during the 1960s. In English, not subtitled. (29 min).

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critics Alain Silver and Jim Ursini.

DISC TWO - ITALIAN LANGUAGE VERSION

• Trailer -presented here is a vintage International trailer for Burn!. With music and English text. (4 min).

Burn! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

On the disc with the English language version of Burn!, you can view an archival interview with Gillo Pontecorvo in which he reveals how the film came to exist. The legendary producer Alberto Grimaldi had paid big money for a lavish western, but after committing to it Pontecorvo changed his mind and walked away from the project. Grimaldi then told Pontecorvo to keep the money and make a different film, which was a compromise -- most of a brand new film Pontecorvo wanted to do, plus some of the western Grimaldi had paid for. I do not think that Burn! works as the type of political film Pontecovo had in mind or the big western Grimaldi had hoped to get. Marlon Brando mishandles his famous character in a pretty bizarre manner while Pontecorvo places it in a period environment that is clearly not right for it. Via Vision Entertainment's two-disc set has two versions of Burn! that are sourced from an old and regrettably quite weak master that was supplied by MGM. If you have to have it in your library, I suggest that you try to get it when it is heavily discounted.