Diaz: Don't Clean Up This Blood Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.5

Diaz: Don't Clean Up This Blood Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 9, 2013

Winner of four David di Donatello Awards, including Best Editing and Best Visual Effects, Daniele Vicari's "Diaz: Don't Clean Up This Blood" (2012) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Universal Studios-UK. The supplemental features on the disc include making of featurette; video interviews with director Daniele Vicari and art director Mauro Vanzati; and a statement from police captain Ansoino Andreassi. In Italian, with optional English, English SDH, French, Portuguese, German, and Dutch subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

For them to see and tell the world.

Daniele Vicari’s Diaz: Don’t Clean Up This Blood chronicles a true event. During the final day of the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa, Italy, the police raided the Diaz School which at the time a large group of protesters from various European countries was using as a media center. More than 300 anti-riot carabinieri clashed with the protesters inside the school. According to various reports, more than 60 protestors were seriously injured. More than 90 protestors were also arrested, and many of them were later on tortured. After several days in the Bolzaneto barracks, the foreign citizens arrested during the raid on the Diaz School were also expelled from Italy.

According to various sources, more than 200,000 protestors were in Genoa during the G8 summit.

The film is appropriately chaotic. A series of flashbacks, some of which frequently overlap, show different areas of the city where demonstrators gathered to coordinate their efforts. The camera then follows prominent characters from each area that will eventually meet at the Diaz School.

The visuals are unsettling. In certain areas armed police vehicles are attacked by large crowds of young people. Some are seen throwing stones, others throwing Molotov cocktails. Windows are also smashed and cars set on fire. There is plenty of smoke in the air. The police vehicles stop only in areas where all residents appear to have been evacuated.

A new set of flashbacks now show how a police captain communicates with his superior and then orders his men to get ready to raid the Diaz School. Later on, the man who contacted the police captain is seen in an office discussing the raid with other high-ranking officials. There is talk about sending a message. Close-ups show tired but angry faces.

Following a few sequences where additional characters are introduced, including an old man who has arrived in Genoa to find his daughter, and a visibly nervous reporter who has been sent to cover the protests, the action moves to the Diaz School. Seven units of heavily armed carabinieri are sent in after all exits blocked. Initially some of the people inside the building try to surrender, but after they realize that the carabinieri are not there to arrest them they panic.

Diaz: Don’t Clean Up This Blood is the most polarizing film to be released since Jose Padilha's Elite Squad, which won Golden Bear Award at the Berlinale but some critics felt was nothing more than a dangerous right-wing propaganda piece. Vicari’s film is a lot more intense and far more brutal than Elite Squad. This makes it exactly the type of film that will likely inspire a new group of critics to describe it as a dangerous left-wing propaganda piece.

The overwhelming majority of the film was shot on location in Bucharest, Romania, where Vicari and his team were able to effectively recreate the chaos from Genoa. Archival footage and various special effects were also used by the filmmakers to effectively reconstruct key events from the raid on the Diaz School.

Considering the nature of the film, the cast is excellent. Claudio Santamaria plays one of the few good carabinieri, while Ralph Amoussou is the aggressive French anarchist. Jennifer Ulrich is a German protestor, while Elio Germano plays the unlucky reporter who gets stuck right in the middle of the bloody mayhem.

Note: In 2012, Diaz: Don’t Clean Up This Blood won Best Editing (Benni Atria), Best Sound (Remo Ugolinelli, Alessandro Palmerini), and Best Producer (Domenico Procacci) awards from the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists.

Diaz: Don't Clean Up This Blood Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Daniele Vicari's Diaz: Don't Clean Up This Blood arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Universal Studios-UK.

The main menu can be set in one of the following languages: English, Dutch, French, German, or Portuguese.

The high-definition transfer is excellent. The film looks appropriately gritty and raw, with the daytime footage also boasting a wide range of well saturated colors. Detail and depth are very good, but there are a couple of sequences where clarity fluctuates because the camera constantly moves. Some rough documentary footage is also used. There are no traces of problematic digital corrections. Serious transfer-specific anomalies, such as banding and aliasing, also do not plague the high-definition transfer. Overall image stability is also very good. All in all, the technical presentation of this recent controversial Italian film is indeed enormously pleasing. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location. For the record, there is no PAL or 1080/50i content preceding the disc's main menu).

Diaz: Don't Clean Up This Blood Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are three standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, German DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, and Portuguese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (with portions of French, English, and Spanish). For the record, Universal Pictures-UK has provided optional English, English SDH, French, Portuguese, German, and Dutch subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

The film has a very impressive sound design that effectively places the viewer right in the middle of the action. During the raid there are all sorts of different surround effects. Depth and fluidity are also excellent. The dialog remains stable and clear, though during the mass scenes some fluctuations are present. Overall dynamic intensity is terrific. For the record, there are no audio dropouts or distortions to report in this review.

Diaz: Don't Clean Up This Blood Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Backstage - a standard featurette with raw footage from the shooting of the film in Bucharest, Romania. Also included are interviews with cast and crew members. In Italian, French and English, with optional English, Dutch, French, German, and Portuguese subtitles. (26 min).

• Art Direction and Visual Effects - director Daniele Vicari and art director Mauro Vanzati explain how the chaos from Genoa was recreated in Bucharest, Romania. In Italian, with optional English, Dutch, French, German, and Portuguese subtitles. (5 min).

• The Testimony of Andreassi - statement from police captain Ansoino Andreassi, who addresses the tragic events chronicled in Diaz: Don't Clean Up This Blood. In Italian, with optional English, Dutch, French, German, and Portuguese subtitles. (2 min).

Diaz: Don't Clean Up This Blood Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Italian director Daniele Vicari's Diaz: Don't Clean Up This Blood is an exceptionally bold film that is guaranteed to inspire all sorts of extreme reactions. But these types of films always do. I cannot say that I enjoyed it because the brutality that is shown in it is deeply unsettling, but I understand its purpose. Universal's technical presentation of Diaz: Don't Clean Up This Blood is outstanding. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.