7.5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Yonkers' Mayor Nick Wasicsko takes offices in 1987 and has to deal with the serious subject of the building of public housing in the white, middle class side of the town.
Starring: Oscar Isaac, Carla Quevedo, Peter Riegert, Jim Belushi, Alfred MolinaDrama | 100% |
History | 11% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: DTS 5.1
Spanish: DTS 2.0
English SDH, French, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
UV digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s posthumously published journals provide the quote from which Show Me a Hero culls its title, namely, “Show me a hero and I’ll write you a tragedy”. But there are at least a couple of other notable Fitzgerald quotes which might be attached to various plot points that crop up in this “ripped from the headlines” miniseries from HBO, including “There are no second acts in American lives” and “Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me”. That last quote might be amended slightly to refer to either race or less wealthy folks than the “very rich”, but the sentiment would remain the same—Show Me a Hero is a story of a radical disconnect in American society, one fostered by the horrendous fact of slavery, its Jim Crow after effects, and the long slog toward true equality and the rejection of the “separate but equal” mentality that had been canon in the United States since the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling. When the various Brown v. Board of Education rulings (yes, there were two, at least in a manner of speaking) came along in the mid-fifties, it seemed that the United States might finally be marching (however slowly) toward true equality among the races, at least insofar as what “society” provided them, in this case access to public education. As Show Me a Hero makes distressingly clear, good intentions notwithstanding, there was still copious segregation in fact if not in “official policy” as late as the late eighties and early nineties with regard to public housing, in this particular case in Yonkers, New York. When a federal judge named Leonard Sand (Bob Balaban) issued a decree requiring Yonkers to build new housing in largely white neighborhoods which would become habitations for mostly black and other minority residents, a rousing chorus of “NIMBY” (not in my backyard) rose up, leading to years of political turmoil and devolving interpersonal relationships. At the center of Show Me a Hero’s sometimes wonky take on this convoluted subject is a young politico named Nick Wasicsko (Oscar Isaac, a Golden Globe winner for this performance), a former cop who had become a Yonkers City Councilman and who, as the miniseries’ first episode ends, is the unexpected winner of a mayoral election, becoming the youngest ever mayor of Yonkers (he was only 28 at the time), and evidently the youngest ever mayor of a major city in the United States.
Show Me a Hero is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of HBO with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The IMDb lists this as having been shot with the Arri Alexa, and while the miniseries doesn't really offer much in the way of visual "wow", there's a commendable sharpness and detail to a lot of this presentation, especially when Haggis and cinematographer Andrij Parekh indulge in extreme close-ups (see screenshot 1). A lot of the film takes place in brownish interiors like the Council chambers or the Judge's chambers, and so the palette tends to assume an almost monochromatic mien at times. Something that's quite interesting to pay attention to (for those who like the technical side of things) is how often Haggis and Parekh pull focus variously within the frame to establish "where to look". Therefore, a character deep in the frame may initially be out of focus, but will suddenly become the literal focal point as he or she begins to speak. This stylistic choice, which will become more and more evident for those attuned to such matters, means that occasionally things can look slightly soft, if only for a moment, as focal parameters change. Some of the relatively few exterior scenes boast decent depth of field, and the palette tends to pop a bit more in these sequences as well. Contrast is generally stable (I personally could have stood a bit more definition in some of those shrouded Council Chamber scenes). There are no issues with image instability or compression anomalies.
Show Me a Hero's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track gets the chance to stretch its sonic surround wings when the Springsteen montages are on display, but even in nonmusical sequences, there's often good immersion courtesy of busy (sometimes frenetic) environments like the increasingly contentious City Council meetings. Quieter sequences like those in the cemetery will still provide occasional if sometimes subtle discrete placement of ambient environmental effects. Because of the almost Howard Hawksian tendency to have dialogue overlap in some of those noisy council sequences, prioritization is sometimes just slightly akimbo, but in more traditional dialogue scenes there are no issues whatsoever.
Disc One
I'm not quite sure that Nick Wasicsko qualifies as a "tragic hero", at least not in the traditional sense. And in fact the miniseries might have achieved more emotional resonance by focusing as much on some of the ostensible supporting characters, notably a couple of the black women in the "projects", as it ends up focusing on Nick. Still, this is a fascinating tour through a really disturbing era of "social justice", a time when even bulwarks like the NAACP were seemingly too sick of the fight to want to continue. While the miniseries perhaps doesn't offer enough emotional context for certain changes in Nick's character and/or responses along the way, the overall recreation of this unsettling situation is often brilliantly depicted, albeit in an often discomfiting manner. Isaac is top notch in a somewhat difficult role, and the large supporting cast is similarly effective. Technical merits are fine, and even with a pretty slight supplemental package Show Me a Hero comes Highly recommended.
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