Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Days of Heaven Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 17, 2022

Terrence Malick's "Days of Heaven" (1978) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy Paramount Home Media Distribution. There are no bonus features on the release. In English, with optional English, English SDH, French, and German subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Terrence Malick is an American director, a native of Illinois, whose films have a distinctive European flavor. They are all like casual but fascinating encounters -- we meet their characters, get to know them, and then part ways. We rarely remember their exact stories; what stays with us are images of them, certain thoughts and emotions.

Days of Heaven, a film for which Malick won the prestigious Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1979, follows the deeds of a young Chicago steelworker (Richard Gere, American Gigolo) who commits a crime and flees to Texas, together with his girlfriend, Abby (Brooke Adams, A Man, a Woman and a Bank), and little sister, Linda (Linda Manz). There, the three befriend a wealthy but seriously ill farmer (Sam Shepard, Don’t Come Knocking), who eventually falls for Abby and marries her.

The film is fractured into uneven episodes, each relying heavily on Linda's narration. Most of the tragic events in it are described by the little girl in a unique kind of way -- she sees them, and so do we, and then tells us, with simple words, what is happening. The rest is filmed by Malick in a near documentary style, one that treats nature as a key character, not simply a setting for the events the film chronicles.

Sound is also of tremendous importance in Days of Heaven. On more than a few occasions, random sounds -- a gentle breeze, water flowing, birds chirping, etc. -- are used by Malick to indirectly reflect the complex emotions the main protagonists struggle with. These are the moments when Days of Heaven very much feels like a visual poem.

This unusual attention nature receives in Malick's films, however, is always at the expense of the main protagonists, which is why their stories are never complete. This is not to say that Malick's films are about the universal conflict between men and nature as some critics suggest. Quite the opposite, they are intimate observations that typically show how both react to each other when they become close.

In Days of Heaven a few such reactions are precisely the focus of attention. On one hand, it is the steelworker, his little sister, and his girlfriend who arrive in Texas and soon discover that they need to learn to live life differently. Malick shows how the three of them struggle to adjust while they also keep doing the things they used to do in Chicago -- love each other, get angry and fight, and dream together. On the other hand, it is nature. Malick shows how the different seasons affect her, how the farmers treat her, and when disaster strikes, how nature also struggles.

This philosophical view of life that Malick introduces in Days of Heaven is achieved primarily through the employment of carefully lensed footage that is quite uneven at times but also very effective. In more than one way, it suggests that life is a process of constant motion, a series of uneven events, where men and nature interact in some truly unique ways.

For Days of Heaven Malick was assisted by two legendary cinematographers, Cuban Nestor Almendros (The Man Who Loved Women), who won an Oscar for the film, and the uncredited Chicago-born Haskell Wexler (who really speaks his heart out in one of the supplemental features provided on this Blu-ray disc, and many, this reviewer included, believe should have been recognized by the Academy as well). The film’s memorable music score was composed by renowned Italian maestro Ennio Morricone (Nuovo Cinema Paradiso).

Days of Heaven Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Days of Heaven arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Paramount Home Media Distribution.

In the United States, Days of Heaven made its high-definition debut in 2010 with this Blu-ray release courtesy of the Criterion Collection, which is now out of print. Paramount's release is sourced from the same restored master, which was supervised and approved by camera operator John Bailey, editor Billy Weber, and director Terrence Malick. Unsurprisingly, these two releases offer identical presentations of the film.

I like how Days of Heaven looks on Blu-ray a lot. More than a decade later, the age of the current master is beginning to show, but I don't see any troubling issues that would prevent me from enthusiastically recommending the current release again. Obviously, there is newer, more advanced technology now that could produce a superior 4K master, but for a convincing superior presentation, this fictional 4K master would have to be offered on 4K Blu-ray. The Blu-ray release still delivers very impressive visuals with incredibly pleasing delineation, clarity, and depth. Also, the current master is wonderfully graded, so for future better color reproduction the entire dynamic range of the visuals would have to be expanded, which is something that can be accomplished only in native 4K. Stability is excellent. The entire film looks very healthy, too. One last thing. The release is very nicely encoded as well. So, this recent release should be on the radar of people that do not have the original release of Days of Heaven. (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).

Days of Heaven Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are three standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit), French Dolby Digital 2.0, and German Dolby Digital 2.0. Optional English, English SDH, French, and German subtitles are provided for the main feature.

We recently reviewed this Australian release of Days of Heaven from Via Vision Entertainment which two audio tracks: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English LPCM 2.0. I have tested both and think that the lossless 5.1 track is the one to use when viewing the film. Simply put, it has a better dynamic field that opens up various sequences really well. I don't have any new comments about the 5.1 track to add in our review. It is free of encoding anomalies as well.

Days of Heaven Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Most unfortunately, there are no supplemental features to be found on this release.

Days of Heaven Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A member of our community informed me that various titles from Paramount's catalog that were released by the Criterion Collection have gone out of print. I was unaware. However, some of these titles are now made available on Blu-ray by Paramount, and Days of Heaven is one of them. This release offers a very solid technical presentation of the same restoration that was introduced by the folks at Criterion in 2010. However, it does not have any bonus features. It should be on your radar only if you do not have the original release in your library. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.