Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.5

Red Desert Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 8, 2008

A turning point in Michelangelo Antonioni’s career, Il Deserto Rosso won the prestigious Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival in 1964 - it was the Italian director’s first color feature. Freshly restored from the original negatives in Rome, the film makes its debut on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors BFI. In Italian, with optional English subtitles. Region-B "locked".

Soon to be lovers

An emotionally disturbed married woman, Giuliana (Monica Vitti, La notte; L'eclisse), is introduced to a mining engineer, Corrado (Richard Harris, Mutiny on the Bounty; The Sporting Life; ), who is on his way to Patagonia, Argentina. They meet repeatedly, flirt, and eventually make love. Soon after, the man leaves while the woman slips into a state of bipolar depression.

Shot during a period when Michelangelo Antonioni was in an active relationship with Monica Vitti, Red Desert was the Italian director’s first color film. Bold, imaginative and strikingly abstract, Red Desert reflected Antonioni’s attitude towards rapid industrialization and urbanization, which at the time had greatly contributed to the spiritual despair and alienation many of his countrymen struggled with.

The industrial look of Red Desert is certainly amongst its most unique features. The struggle of the main characters to express their feelings, for example, is revealed through numerous striking images of polluted landscapes, as well as unusual color experimentation where the camera is largely treated as an observer whose power to manipulate is in fact far more important than the words and actions of the characters it follows . As a result, Red Desert is often seen as a film about the expressive authority of color rather than the history of a doomed affair.

The use of multiple sequences of unique electronic tunes, some mimicking sci-fi film scores from the early 40s-50s, also suggest that Red Desert was meant to be a much broader canvas where specific sounds and images - now an integral part of the industrialization and urbanization of the world Antonioni was living in - were to be the focus of attention, not the characters in it and their personal stories. This is most obvious in that notorious scene where Corrado begins tearing apart the red wall while physical attraction and love are casually discussed by Giuliana and his friends - a clear sign of Antonioni’s changing attitude towards narrative structure and direction. In his L’avventura (1960), La note (1961), and L’eclisse (1962), Antonioni spends a great deal of time on specific objects he deemed crucial in understanding the main characters and their stories; in Red Desert, a reversed trend is evident - the main characters are objects that help one understand a complex process.

The end comes abruptly - and de facto offers a better summation of Antonioni’s controversial stance on progress and industrialization than a logical and satisfying closure of Giuliana’s story. Her life returns to normal, but her illness intensifies and chaos erupts. Interestingly enough, what eventually helps Giuliana regain her strength and sanity is not medicine but emotional detachment from the new world she is forced to live in.

Note: In 1964, Red Desert won Golden Lion award for Best Film, as well as FIPRESCI Prize (Michelangelo Antonioni) at the Venice Film Festival. In 1965, the film also won Silver Ribbon award for Best Cinematography (Carlo Di Palma) granted by Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists.

Red Desert Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG4-AVC, and granted a 1080p transfer Red Desert is the second Blu-ray release to be introduced by British distribs BFI (the first one being Pier Paolo Pasolini's Salo). Once again, I am going to quote the small announcement left by James White, technical producer of mastering and restoration at BFI, in the lavish booklet for Red Desert. I believe that having it here would greatly assist some of our readers in understanding the specific look the film carries:

"Red Desert has been newly transferred in Hi-Definition using the original 35mm negative film elements and appears in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio with restored 2.0 sound. Red Desert was restored using HD-DVNR and MTI restoration systems, removing dirt, scratches, and stabilizing the image. Every effort has been made to present Red Desert in its pristine, original form. However, a small number of instances of damage on the original film elements will exhibit occasional image weave and flutter due to slight warping and sprocket wear. As with the majority of Italian films made during this time, all audio was recorded after filming and synched during post-production and therefore the film appears to exhibit occasional "loose synch" issues. This is true to the film's original release and is not a technical fault".

My first impression of this new and restored print by BFI is that it is notably different from what has been available via SDVD (primarily the old Image release in the United States and the more recent R4 release in Australia). Here the color scheme is accurately rendered with reds, yellows, greens, and blues, being better saturated, natural looking, and convincing. The blacks on the other hand are lush and so strong that any side by side comparison with the Australian disc will immediately reveal to you how much more depth the BFI print has (particularly when blown through a digital projector). Furthermore, contrast is very strong allowing one to see details I personally have not been able to see on any of the previous SDVD releases. With other words, the color-scheme is not only accurate but vastly superior as well.

Film purists will also be delighted to know that heavy DNR application is nowhere to be detected here. The prevalent grainy structure Red Desert boasts is perfectly transferred and preserved in this 1080p print and the subtle look Antonioni aimed for in my opinion is very much intact. From the opening scenes where the camera zooms over the plant, to the foggy scene at the port with the passing by ship, to the final scene where Monica Vitti's character is seen succumbing to depression, yet again, I find this Blu-ray release to be a tremendous improvement over any previous release of Red Desert.

As noted by James White there are a few very tiny specks that I noticed during the first ten minutes or so but I assume that these are engraved into the original print so removing them completely was impossible. Once again, these are extremely minor and I only mention them so there aren't any calls later on claiming that the Blu-ray release of Red Desert did not receive an accurate evaluation. The important thing to remember is that with the grain structure of the film intact the 1080p transfer reveals a degree of clarity that will most certainly impress those who have been wishing for a solid and expertly produced release of Antonioni's groundbreaking film. To sum it all up, this is the definitive presentation of Red Desert which I believe looks as good as possible given some of the source limitations addressed earlier in this evaluation. (Note:This is a Region-B "locked" disc and unless you have a region-free player or a Region-B PS3 you will not be able to access its content).

Red Desert Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Red Desert arrives with a newly restored Italian PCM mono track (and added English subtitles). Once again, the SDVD audio treatment on the Australian release isn't a match for the PCM track BFI have provided on this Blu-ray disc. There is substantially more clarity and depth here. The intricate electronic-ambient soundtrack Red Desert boasts comes off beautifully and as far as I am concerned does not suffer from any deficiencies whatsoever – I did not detect any disturbing pop-ups, cracks, or hissings to report either. For the record, as James White points out, there are a few very minor sync "issues" but these are a byproduct of the post-production overdubbing Red Desert received and are inherited via the master elements in Rome.

Red Desert Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

BFI provided a terrific booklet with supplemental materials for their release of Pier Paolo Pasolini's Salo and their treatment of Red Desert isn't any different. First, there is a very well written essay by David Forgacs (Professor Forgacs, of the Department of Italian at University College London, has written extensively on Italian film and the cultural history of modern Italy) titled simply Red Desert. In it Professor Forgacs examines the history behind Antonioni's groundbreaking film, its complex structure, specifically the symbolic significance of the marquee industrial overtones, as well as the manner in which the film was received by both critics and viewers. The essay also does a great job of putting into context Antonioni's work while linking it to the changing socio-cultural landscape of Italy. Next, there is a terrific interview with Michelangelo Antonioni (conducted by Francois Maurin and originally published in Humanite dimanche on September 23, 1964 - the piece is translated by Andrew Taylor for publication in The Architecture of Vision, 1996) where the Italian director discusses his fascination with color, the social relevance of his project, as well as the elusive relationship between his protagonists and the environment they share. In addition, Michelangelo Antonioni also comments on the important role electronic music occupies in Red Desert as well as its relation to the complex visual structure the film boasts. Finally, the director also reveals why his first color film isn't a continuation of his previous work. The last essay in this booklet is by Geoffrey Nowell-Smith (Professor Nowell-Smith has written extensively on European cinema and is editor of The Oxford History of World Cinema) titled The life and work of Michelangelo Antonioni (1912-2007). In it you will uncover a detailed summation of Michelangelo Antonioni's life and career with interesting highlights (the director's 220-minute TV project on China for example) pointing to his diverse interests outside the field of cinema.

On the actual Blu-ray disc aside from the original theatrical trailer you will find a full-blown commentary by Professor Forgacs where he does a truly outstanding job in dissecting practically every single scene of importance in Red Desert. This commentary alone is worth paying the price for BFI's Blu-ray disc as it truly is a tremendous opportunity to learn about Michelangelo Antonioni's groundbreaking film from a man with a great deal of knowledge on Italian cinema in general. Bravo to BFI for going the extra mile and involving Professor Forgacs with this terrific project!

Red Desert Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Another fantastic release by BFI delivers exactly what everyone was hoping for – a deserving treatment of Michelangelo Antonioni's sublime Red Desert. I feel that we are quite fortunate to have BFI release two films (Salo and Red Desert) that until recently were impossible to see in an acceptable form in any English-speaking market, not just the US. With Red Desert in particular it seems like the BFI Blu-ray release will be the only one to own. I personally am incredibly grateful for this terrific turn of events. Highly Recommended.