Ro.Go.Pa.G. Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Ro.Go.Pa.G. Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov September 4, 2012

"Ro.Go.Pa.G." a.k.a. "Let's Wash Our Brains: RoGoPaG" (1963) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Eureka Entertainment. The only supplemental feature on the disc is the film's original Italian theatrical trailer. In Italian, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. The release also arrives with a 56-page booklet featuring new essays by Tag Gallagher, Arthur Mas, Martial Pisani, and Pasquale Iannone; a new translation by Tag Gallagher of excerpts from an oral history about the film; and rare archival imagery. Region-B "locked".

The perfect girl

This French-Italian production from 1963 is composed of four episodes directed by four acclaimed European directors: Roberto Rossellini, Jean-Luc Godard, Pier Paolo Pasolini, and Ugo Gregoretti. Its short title, Ro.Go.Pa.G., borrows letters from their names.

Rossellini: Ilibatezza a.k.a. Chastity

The beautiful Rosanna Schiaffino is Anna Maria, a stewardess for Alitalia who loves shooting with her film camera. During a flight to Thailand, she is harassed by an American businessman, who insists that she has the perfect figure to be a model in his country. The man also repeatedly attempts to explain to Anna Maria that as long as she knows how to cook hamburgers and sausage, knows how to drive and is willing to help her boyfriend wash his car, any American man would love to marry her - even though she isn't looking for a husband. After they land in Bangkok, Anna Maria and the American businessman end up in the same hotel. This time he goes after her and tries to impress her, hoping for a quick rendezvous. At first Anna Maria rejects his advances, but then changes her mind and surprises him.

Godard: Il nuovo mondo a.k.a. The New World

A man (Jean-Marc Bory) who has trouble sleeping meets a beautiful young woman (Alexandra Stewart) and falls madly in love with her. They spend plenty of time together and eventually become a couple. On the night when she finally tells him that she also loves him, he goes to bed happy and immediately falls asleep. When he wakes up two days later, the man discovers that an atomic super-explosion has occurred some 120,000 meters above Paris. The city hasn't changed much, but now its people are taking pills to offset the damaging effects of the radiation, which have changed their personalities. After a while, the man begins to realize that the woman he lives with is no longer the woman he fell in love with.

Pasolini: La ricotta a.k.a. Curded Cheese

A famous Marxist director (Orson Welles) is shooting a film about Jesus in a poor but beautiful area. One of the extras, Stracci (Mario Cipriani), is a local man who is so hungry that he would do anything to have some of the food that is brought for the shoot. He repeatedly steals some of it but the director always calls him before he could enjoy it. Eventually, he befriends a stray dog that eats his food. After he sells the dog, Stracci buys a large piece of ricotta cheese. He eats all of it and then goes back to work. He is quickly placed on a large cross and the director begins shooting the important crucifixion scene.

Gregoretti: Il pollo ruspante a.k.a. Free-Range Chicken

Togni (Ugo Tognazzi) and his wife (Lisa Gastoni) are confident that they have saved enough to put a down payment on a piece of land. On the way to the countryside, they decide to stop at what seems like a fine restaurant and have lunch. They are told to enter the place through a very large corridor where various goods are sold. They end up buying plenty of things they do not need. Later on, when they meet the developer who sells the land, they realize that they can’t afford it. Nevertheless, they spend plenty of time listening to him as he tries to convince them that they actually need a much bigger piece of land. Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away from them, a respected professor argues that middle-class Italians should be trained to become better consumers.

Ro.Go.Pa.G. is an entertaining film that satirizes certain attitudes towards religion, consumerism, sex, and nuclear war. Each of its episodes has a unique tone and sense of humor, but only Pasolini’s La ricotta is outrageous enough to leave a memorable impression. On the other hand, Gregoretti’s episode is arguably the most relevant one, as it challenges current views on materialism and consumerism.

Other similar projects from the same era worth seeing are Le bambole a.k.a. The Dolls (1965), which is composed of four episodes directed by Mauro Bolognini, Franco Rossi, Luigi Comencini, and Dino Risi, as well as Le streghe a.k.a. The Witches (1967), which has five short episodes directed by Luchino Visconti, Bolognini, Pasolini, Rossi, and Vittorio de Sicca.

Ro.Go.Pa.G. Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Ro.Go.Pa.G. arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Eureka Entertainment.

I own the OOP box set of Pasolini films which Tartan produced for the UK market quite some time ago and was able to do some direct comparisons with the Blu-ray release of Ro.Go.Pa.G.. In addition to much better detail, there are also excellent stability improvements. On the DVD, the image is often shaky and around the edges there is light shimmer. The high-definition transfer eliminates both issues. Some frame transitions are still a bit uneven, but overall stability is greatly improved. Color grading and contrast are fairly similar. The heavy artifacts and chroma noise that are visible on the DVD release are also missing. The high-definition transfer also isn't plagued by edge-enhancement. On the DVD release, traces of mild to moderate sharpening are very easy to spot. Lastly, there are no traces of severe degraining corrections. All in all, Ro.Go.Pa.G.'s transition to Blu-ray is satisfying. The film has a stable organic look that should please viewers who have seen or own it on DVD. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Ro.Go.Pa.G. Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: Italian: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (with portions of English). For the record, Eureka Entertainment have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

I was expecting a modest lossless track with some dynamic inconsistencies, but the Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track actually has a surprisingly good dynamic amplitude. Depth and clarity are also marginally improved. There is no background hiss, but the lossy audio track from DVD also isn't plagued by it. The elimination of the PAL speed-up is also a major bonus as each of the fort shorts has prominent soundtracks. The dialog is clean, stable, and easy to follow. The English translation is excellent.

Ro.Go.Pa.G. Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for Ro.Go.Pa.G.. In Italian, with optional English subtitles. (6 min, 1080p).

• Booklet - 56-page booklet featuring new essays by Tag Gallagher, Arthur Mas, Martial Pisani, and Pasquale Iannone; a new translation by Tag Gallagher of excerpts from an oral history about the film; and rare archival imagery.

Ro.Go.Pa.G. Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Pier Paolo Pasolini's short, La ricotta, which was once condemned by the Catholic Church and banned, is a good enough reason to recommend Ro.Go.Pa.G.. Portions of it are still quite outrageous. I also like Roberto Rossellini's short, Illibatezza, with the beautiful Rosanna Schiaffino, who appeared in Francesco Rossi's excellent La sfida. Viewers interested in classic European cinema shouldn't miss this release. RECOMMENDED.