Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Diamonds of the Night Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 7, 2019

Jan Nemec's Diamonds of the Night (1964) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British label Second Run. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; video piece with Peter Hames; the short film "A Loaf of Bread"; and more. The release also arrives with an 18-page illustrated booklet featuring an essay by critic Michael Brooke and technical credits. In Czech, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

The wanted

At first it looks as if the abrupt opening and the shaky footage that follows are just parts of a segment that could and should have turned out a lot better. Even the cuts are so quick that they look like the work of a young and inexperienced editor.

But the longer the camera follows the two boys, the clearer it becomes that there is some type of a structure to the unevenness. Now the tempo is relentless. The boys do not waste any time talking and simply continue to move further away from the people that are chasing them.

It takes a little over fifteen minutes before a word is finally uttered and the boys slow down. The taller one can barely move now because one of his shoes has started falling apart and seriously injured his foot. Even though it is freezing cold, he isn’t complaining because it is utterly pointless. All that matters is that they have gotten away.

Random flashbacks begin interrupting the tense getaway and reveal a city where the boys were once free. It is hard to tell how long ago, but the contrast between the present and the past is so drastic that the flashbacks seem like glimpses from a surreal dream.

At a secluded farm, one of the boys approaches a middle-aged woman who instantly realizes that he is starving and hands him a piece of bread. They don’t talk. But before he takes the bread the boy has trouble controlling his thoughts -- he sees how he kills the woman, how she might be urging him to come to her bed, then how she once again drops dead before him.

A gang of hunters eventually track down their targets on a hill not too far away from the farm. All of them are old men carrying rifles and taking orders from a man in a military uniform. They relentlessly fire at the boys, as if they are shooting rabbits, and encourage each other in German. The boys try to run again, but now they can barely even move. The taller boy with the busted shoe can no longer even stand on his feet.

This classic Czech film from director Jan Nemec is based on a true story by Arnost Lustig, a WWII survivor who just like the two nameless boys once struggled to stay alive while the Germans were trying to capture him after he escaped from a train that was on its way to Dachau. It was such a horrific experience that at one point his mind nearly gave up and he started losing his sense of reality.

The unusual structure of the narrative basically mimics this very awkward mental state that apparently defined Lustig’s experience. There is quite a bit of overlapping going on and it is done in a way that makes it very difficult to tell what is real or imaginary, or what the actual proper chronology of the events that are seen in the film might be. Unsurprisingly, the end result feels a lot like a very dark and almost unbearably tense surrealistic nightmare, not a conventional war film about fugitives trying to stay alive.

Director Nemec, who was one of the key figures in the Czech New Wave movement that emerged in the ‘60s, obviously had a tiny budget to work with, but the minimalistic nature of the footage that he shot actually could not have been any more appropriate for this type of a film. The are literally no beautiful vistas to distract the viewer and words are kept to an absolute minimum. (The scattered ramblings of the Germans aren’t even translated). The focus of attention is exclusively on the suffocating sense of fear that the boys are feeling and their gradual realization that they just don’t have the physical energy to keep running away from the hunters.

*If Diamonds of the Night appeals to you, see Joseph Losey’s Figures in a Landscape. It is another unorthodox and really quite surreal film about men on the run.

Diamonds of the Night Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Jan Nemec's Diamonds of the Night arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Second Run.

The release is sourced from a recent 4K restoration of the film that was completed by the Czech National Film Archive. Even though in certain areas there is some unevenness because the existing elements have not aged particularly well, and elsewhere there are some larger damage marks that were not eliminated with digital tools, I like the presentation a lot. I projected the film and was very pleased with the depth and clarity of the visuals. One area where some careful balancing work could have been done is the grading, because from time to time it does look like the blacks become a bit too heavy and a few minor nuances are eliminated, but overall the visuals are indeed very strong. There are no traces of sharpening adjustments, or other similar digital enhancements. Image stability is very good, though a few transitions are a bit uneven. All in all, I think that the film has a very strong organic appearance and it is quite a treat to revisit now. My score is 4.25/5.00. (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. For the record, there is no problematic PAL or 1080/50i content preceding the disc's main menu).

Diamonds of the Night Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Czech LPCM 2.0 (with a few exchanges in German).. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

I thought that the audio was excellent. There is very little dialog in the film and the soundtrack actually incorporates plenty of organic sounds and noises, so the overall dynamic activity is limited, but there are still plenty of nuances, and the clarity and balanace are very good. There are no audio dropouts or digital distortions to report.

Diamonds of the Night Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for the recent 4K restoration of Diamonds of the Night. With English text. (2 min, 1080p).

• An Appreciation By Peter Hames - in this video piece, Peter Hames discusses the career of director Jan Nemec and the evolution of his style, the Czech New Wave, and the style and structure of Diamonds of the Night. In English, not subtitled. (22 min, 1080p).

• Interview with Eva Lustigova - in this new video interview, Eva Lustigova, daughter of writer Arnost Lustig whose story "Darkness has no Shadows" inspired Diamonds of the Night, discusses her father's life and experiences during WWII. The interview was conducted in London, in July 2018. In English, not subtitled. (18 min, 1080p).

• Commentary - audio commentary by critic Michael Brooke.

• A Loaf of Bread - presented here is Jan Nemec's 1960 student thesis film, based on a short story by Arnost Lustig. In Czech, with optional English subtitles. (12 min, 1080p).

• Booklet - 18-page illustrated booklet featuring an essay by critic Michael Brooke and technical credits.

Diamonds of the Night Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The very unique sense of suffocating fear mixed with desperation that permeates this classic Czech film is indescribable. The main reason for this is the fact that it comes from a reconstructed reality that is actually a reflection of a very particular state of mind, and unless experienced, I don't believe it can be fully comprehended and summarized. I am convinced that this is exactly why Jan Nemec structured his film a lot like a very fluid surrealistic nightmare. I like the film a lot, and I think that it is great that the recent 4K restoration that the Czech National Film Archive completed is being released on Blu-ray in multiple territories. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.