State of Siege Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

State of Siege Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 20, 2015

Nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign-Language Foreign Film, Costa-Gavras' "State of Siege" a.k.a. "État de siège" (1972) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an exclusive filmed conversation between director Costa-Gavras and film scholar Peter Cowie as well as NBC News excerpts from 1970 on the kidnapping of Dan Mitrione. The release also arrives with an illustrated leaflet featuring an essay by journalist Mark Danner. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

"As for you, you have no choice. If you kill me, it will be an act of cruelty and powerlessness. If you don't kill me, it will be a sign of weakness."

An unnamed South American country, the early 1970s. The members of a radical leftist group kidnap high-ranking U.S. official Philip Michael Santore (Yves Montand, The Wages of Fear) and announce that he will be freed only after the government releases all political prisoners. When the negotiations collapse, the country is rocked by a series of tragic events.

Costa-Gavras shot State of Siege in Chile (with the support of Salvador Allende), but the film actually recreates events that took place in Montevideo, Uruguay. On July 31, 1970, the guerilla organization Tupamaros kidnapped three foreign residents -- a Brazilian diplomat and two Americans, Claude Fly and Dan Mitrione -- and then demanded that all political prisoners are released. When the Uruguayan government refused to do so, Tupamaros announced that it will execute Mitrione.

The structure of the film is rather unusual. After a quick glimpse at a massive siege that has paralyzed a busy city, a police officer discovers Santore’s body in an abandoned car. The film then goes back in time and through a series of overlapping flashbacks reveals why Santore had become a target. In a brand new interview included on this release, director Costa-Gavras explains that the intent behind the overlapping was to force the audience to focus on the ideological differences between Santore and his kidnappers rather than on the mechanics of his kidnapping and execution.

Indeed, large parts of the film are dedicated to the exchanges between Santore and the leftists. After it is revealed that Santore is in fact an experienced CIA operative who has been involved with the training of the local police authorities, the focus of attention is shifted to U.S. foreign policy in Latin America. Different ideas and tactics are debated until some obvious cracks appear in the arguments presented by the two sides.

A massive amount of factual information is exchanged and the tempo is relentless, but it isn’t necessary to remember all names and dates. It is the big picture that matters -- the extremely polarizing socio-political environment, the government’s reactions during the crisis, and the erosion of trust in the country’s central institutions.

The film’s visual style is very similar to that of Z, but it is obvious that this time Costa-Gavras had a much bigger budget and much better personnel to work with. For example, the siege is shot with hundreds of actors and unsuspecting men and women who were under the impression that a massive police operation was in fact underway. The big raid towards the end of the film looks equally authentic. There are different overhead shots that reveal just how truly enormous and well coordinated the project was. There is also a very effective but very disturbing sequence in which U.S. experts teach the local authorities how to torture terrorists.

Costa-Gavras wrote the script for State of Siege together with Franco Solinas, who had previously collaborated with Gillo Pontecorvo on the Oscar nominated The Battle of Algiers.

The film was lensed by cinematographer Pierre-William Glenn (François Truffaut's A Gorgeous Girl Like Me, Day for Night) and scored by Mikis Theodorakis (Mihalis Kakogiannis' Zorba the Greek, Z). .

State of Siege Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Costa-Gavras' State of Siege arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the leaflet provided with this Blu-ray release:

"This new restoration was undertaken by KG Productions, under the supervision of director Costa-Gavras and with the support of the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC). For the restoration, a new digital transfer was created in 2K resolution on an ARRISCAN film scanner from the 35mm original camera negative at Eclair Laboratories in Epinay-sur-Seine, France, where the film was restored.

Transfer supervisor: Costa-Gavras.
Image restoration: Eclair Laboratories, Epinay-sur-Seine, France.
Colorist: Christian Dutac/Eclair Laboratories, Epinay-sur-Seine.
Audio restoration: L.E. Diapason, Epinay-sur-Seine."

The improvements are very easy to see. Indeed, detail can be exceptional and image depth excellent. When there is an abundance of natural light, clarity can also impress. Virtually all of the close-us look fantastic (see screencaptures #1 and 3). The large panoramic shots from the siege the overhead shots from the raid look equally pleasing (see screencaptrures #2 and 15). Grain is very fine and evenly distributed throughout the entire film. The minor fluctuations that are visible during select sequences are part of the original cinematography. Colors are very stable, but it is easy to tell that the film has been completely regraded (the new color scheme favors a wide range of strong blues and grays). Furthermore, it appears that with the regrading some additional adjustments were performed that have affected contrast and depth. As a result, during select sequences definition suffers and the film actually looks somewhat flat (see screencaptures #6, 7, 19 and 20). Overall image stability is outstanding. Lastly, there are absolutely no debris, scratches, specks, dirt, or stains to report in this review. All in all, even though the 2K restoration of State of Grace was supervised by Costa-Gavras, I find the end result to be somewhat uneven. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

State of Siege Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French LPCM 1.0 (with some small portions of English). Optional English subtitles have been provided for the main feature.

The audio has been remastered and all imperfections carefully eliminated. Balance is very good while depth and clarity are outstanding. Mikis Theodorakis' score does not have a prominent role, but when needed it opens up the film quite well. The dialog is very clean, stable, and always very easy to follow. The English translation is excellent.

State of Siege Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Costa-Gavras and Peter Cowie - in this new filmed conversation, director Costa-Gavras explains how State of Siege became a reality (it was shot in Chile with the approval of Salvador Allende), Franco Solinas contribution, the casting of Yves Montand (the French actor also appeared in Costa-Gavras' hit Z and The Confession), some of the real political events that are partially recreated in the film, the lensing by cinematographer Pierre-William Glenn (François Truffaut's A Gorgeous Girl Like Me, Day for Night), the film's critical reception in Europe and the United States, etc. The conversation was filmed at the Cinematheque francaise in January 2015 exclusively for Criterion. In English, not subtitled. (32 min, 1080p).
  
  1. Origins, Franco Solinas, and Dan A. Mitrione
  2. Shooting in Chilie/Yves Montand
  3. "A Latin American country"/Cinematography
  4. The Tupamaros
  5. Santore's humanity
  6. The journalist/Humor/Music
  7. Reception
  8. "A political filmmaker"

• NBC News Broadcast on Dan A. Mitrione - the character Yves Montand plays in State of Siege, Philip Michael Santore, was inspired by the real-life figure of Dan A. Mitrione, who was kidnapped by the left-wing radical group Tupamaros in Uruguay on July 31, 1970. Presented here are excerpts from NBC's coverage of the kidnapping case. These excerpts originally aired from August 8 to August 12, 1970. In English, not subtitled. (8 min, 1080i).

• Leaflet - illustrated leaflet featuring an essay by journalist Mark Danner.

State of Siege Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Costa-Gavras' State of Siege chronicles a hostage situation in an unnamed South American country and scrutinizes U.S. politics in the region during the early 1970s. The arguments of the two sides that clash during the crisis are fascinating and in some ways still relevant today. The film has been recently restored in 2K under the supervision of Costa-Gavras, but I find the end result somewhat questionable. Regardless, this is definitely a film worth owning. RECOMMENDED.