Rating summary
| Movie |  | 3.5 |
| Video |  | 4.5 |
| Audio |  | 4.0 |
| Extras |  | 0.0 |
| Overall | | 4.0 |
Eleni Blu-ray Movie Review
Reviewed by Brian Orndorf July 28, 2016
Although it has the set-up of a classic thriller, 1985’s “Eleni” takes a mournful route when detailing the events of the Greek Civil War. An adaptation of Nicholas Gage’s best-selling autobiography, the picture uses the fist-clenching reaction of revenge to explore a divided era of politics and cruelty, finding a personal story of loss driving the drama, which volleys between subtle and hysterical. “Eleni” doesn’t always come together as director Peter Yates imagines, but there’s a deep sense of emotion that periodically arrives to hold attention, hitting a few dark moments of grief and suffering that motivate the story.
John Malkovich stars as Gage, a newspaper reporter returning to Greece to figure out his mother Eleni’s (Kate Nelligan) last words before she was executed by Communists occupying her village during the Greek Civil War. Parallel stories assume command of the picture, watching Eleni struggle to protect her children from harm, while an adult Gage follows clues to figure out who pulled the trigger. Performances back up the potency of the story, with Malkovich focused as Gage, making for a credible reporter who’s allowing personal frustration to threaten his cover. Nelligan goes painfully broad as Eleni, but these are only select moments of anguish, never completely disrupting the feature.
Eleni Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality
The AVC encoded image (1.78:1 aspect ratio) presentation is labeled as an HD remaster and looks it. The viewing experience is natural, with strong, organic colors preserving greenery and costuming, while skintones look healthy and real. Detail is satisfactory throughout, making the most of pained close-ups and location particulars, while set ornamentation is open for study. Grain is fine and filmic. Delineation is secure. Source is in terrific shape beyond some minor speckling.
Eleni Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality
The 2.0 DTS-HD MA sound mix presents "Eleni" with some dimension, delivering touches of stereo separation that bring newsroom and war zone visits to life. Dialogue exchanges are crisp and clean, managing all sorts of accents and performance speeds, though the overall level of the track is on the quiet side, requiring a boost in volume to bring it up to full force. Scoring is satisfactory, nicely balanced with dramatics. Atmospherics are noticeable, adding depth to sequences.
Eleni Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras
There is no supplementary material on this disc.
Eleni Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation
"Eleni" finally achieves a thriller-esque tone in the finale, indulging grand suspense as Gage inches closer to those involved in the brutal occupation. There's sizable heartbreak to manage and a few nail-biting encounters, sending viewers away with a different film than what they began with. Perhaps "Eleni" isn't consistent in this regard, but it's an interesting offering of political and familial unrest, which was a popular moviemaking subject in the 1980s, only here passions are a bit unwieldy, but they still leave a mark.
