Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Rio das Mortes Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 17, 2023

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Arrow's The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection: Volume 3.

Arrow has been curating interesting collections of Rainer Werner Fassbinder films courtesy of both The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection: Volume 1 and The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection: Volume 2, and now with this latest third volume. The first two editions offered some of Fassbinder's better known efforts like The Marriage of Maria Braun and The Merchant of Four Seasons, and while this third collection offers titles that will no doubt be known by Fassbinder aficionados, it might present more "cult"-ish productions.

Rio das Mortes was a television effort from Fassbinder, though that doesn't necessarily means he shirks from any of his typically provocative interests. A socioeconomic angle is once again at least suggested, though it's cloaked in a kind of "treasure hunt" ambience when two guys named Michel (Michael König) and Günther (Günther Kaufmann) desperately wanting to escape their workaday (or, alternately, unemployed) lives in Germany for a dreamed of escapade in Peru, where they're certain than can unearth a Mayan pot of gold. This is in essence a "shaggy dog story" of almost epic proportions, despite its small scale production qualities, and it has more of Fassbinder's really odd but wry sense of humor, especially with regard to the "third wheel" in this character study, Hanna (Hanna Schygulla). While the setup may in fact seem more than fanciful, anyone who has ever felt "stuck" and who is looking for some kind of escape route should find this arguably "lesser" work from Fassbinder rather appealing.

Rio das Mortes Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Rio das Mortes is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.36:1. Arrow's insert booklet groups the films together in its informational verbiage about the restorations, as follows:

All films are presented in their original aspect ratios of 1.37:1* with mono sound. The restorations for The American Soldier, Gods of the Plague, Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven and Satan's Brew were produced and provided by the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation from original 35mm camera negatives scanned on an Arriscan film scanner at Arri Media GmbH in Munich. The Niklahausen Journey, Rio das Mortes and Fear of Fear were originally made for television, with restorations produced and provided by the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation from original 16mm camera negatives, and are presented in standard definition.

*See individual reviews, since not all aspect ratios are actually 1.37:1.

Despite the above verbiage, both BD Info and my other player softwares are showing this does have 1080p resolution, so I'm assuming the verbiage above is simply indicative of an upscale, which this certainly has the appearance of being. The grain field is quite heavy and frankly pretty noisy looking at times, and detail levels understandably tend to be somewhat more variable than in some of the transfers sourced from 35mm negatives. Probably the best thing about this transfer is the palette, which has managed to make it through the gauntlet of time and tide surprisingly well, though the grittiness of the grain field can add a slight gray masking quality at times, as can probably be seen in some of the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review. Some may feel a 3.0 score is overly generous for this presentation, but when I compare this to some other upscales of 16mm material in particular, it looks relatively decent.

Rio das Mortes Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Rio das Mortes features an LPCM 2.0 Mono track in the original German. A couple of kind of funny source cues enliven the proceedings, but this is another track that is comprised largely of dialogue and ambient environmental effects, and despite an absence of really artfully layered sound design, everything is presented cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Rio das Mortes Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Arrow has packaged Gods of the Plague and Rio das Mortes together on one disc, with the following supplements:

• Alter Ego (HD; 40:52) offers Harry Baer discussing Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Subtitled in English.


• Taking Off (HD; 26:02) features Michael König discussing Rio das Mortes. Subtitled in English.


• Gods of the Plague Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:53)


• Image Gallery (HD)

Rio das Mortes Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

While this has some of the same lack of consistency and frankly even artistry that also occasionally hobble Gods of the Plague, I actually liked this piece a bit better than its disc mate, due at least in part to some of the almost wacky humor that suffuses the story, despite an overarching feeling of oppression, class based or otherwise. Video is often pretty rough looking, but audio is fine, and the supplements are very enjoyable.