The Exterminating Angel Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

The Exterminating Angel Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 5, 2016

Nominated for the prestigious Palme d'Or Award, Luis Bunuel's "The Exterminating Angel" a.k.a. "El Angel Exterminador" (1962) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film, archival interview with actress Silvia Pinal, archival interview with director Arturo Ripstein, and Gaizka Urresti and Javier Espada's documentary "The Last Script: Remembering Luis Bunuel". The release also arrives with a 36-page illustrated booklet featuring Marsha Kinder's essay "Exterminating Civilization", excerpts from previously published interviews with te Spanish director, and technical credits. In Spanish, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

"To the delightful evening our friend Silvia provided us, and to her wonderful creation of the Virgin Bride of Lammermoor."

This classic film from the great Spanish director Luis Bunuel is essentially one big slap to the face of the elites that thrived during General Franco’s dictatorship. It is pretty effective, though towards the end it goes overboard with the mockery and becomes a bit silly.

A very large portion of the film takes place inside the lavish home of the wealthy socialites Edmundo Nobile (Enrique Rambal) and his wife Lucía (Lucy Gallardo) who have welcomed some of their most distinguished friends for a special dinner. The main event is a resounding success and after the guests compliment the hosts everyone moves to the large entertainment room. Now the majority of the guests engage in meaningless discussions while a few simply begin flirting with each other. Eventually, the party ends but instead of heading back home the guests take off their expensive jackets, loosen up their dresses and prepare to spend the night on the elegant couches and chairs. A few even decide that the bare floor is good enough for them. On the following morning someone discovers that they are trapped in the entertainment room, though the house seems perfectly fine and at least the remaining servants have no trouble getting in and out. The puzzled hosts and their annoyed guests decide to wait until someone figures out a way out or help comes from the outside. But as they begin to run out of food and water these wealthy and sophisticated men and women slowly start to panic, and then undergo some truly stunning character transformations that bring out the worst in them.

Bunuel takes great pleasure in humiliating the elitist crowd inside the house, but knowing how he was treated during the Franco era it is hardly surprising. So the whole concept behind the film is basically a form of carefully crafted intellectual revenge served in a pretty uncompromising fashion.

Some familiarity with the socio-political environment in Spain at the time when the film was completed is probably necessary to fully understand how effectively Bunuel hits his targets -- the complex relationship between the Church and Franco’s regime for instance immediately comes to mind -- but the key points about the elites and their hypocrisy should be very easy to grasp. In fact, many of them perfectly illustrate the odd void that exists between contemporary political elites and the people that they govern, with the only significant difference being the fact that now the elites have pro-globalist aspirations which affect a significantly bigger group of people.

There is a short segment towards the end where it feels like Bunuel goes a bit too far with the mockery. When the sheep head to the Church, Bunuel clearly implies that the believers were docile followers who in a way were just as hypocritical as the elites that allowed Franco and his puppets to rule the country.

*If you enjoy The Exterminating Angel and wish to experience an equally unorthodox film that plays with the mind in a similar fashion, see Italian master Marco Ferreri’s once quite controversial La Grande Bouffe a.k.a. The Big Feast, with Marcello Mastroianni, Michel Piccoli, Philippe Noiret, and Ugo Tognazzi.

The Exterminating Angel Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Luis Bunuel's The Exterminating Angel arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

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

"This high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit DataCine film scanner from a 35mm duplicate negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, and warps were manually removed using MTI Film's DRS, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for jitter, flicker, small dirt, and noise management. The original monaural soundtrack was mastered from 35mm optical soundtrack prints. Clicks, thumps, hiss, hum, and crackle were manually removed using Pro Tools HD and iZotope RX.

Transfer supervisor: Stephane Pecharman.
Colorist: Alex Berman/Post Logic, New York."

The master that was used to source the release was probably prepared some time ago, though it is possible that some additional work was done more recently. There are some minor density fluctuations which at times also introduce some sporadic softness. Obviously, because of it in these areas ideally grain should be better exposed, but overall balance is still good. The grayscale is solid -- there are no traces of digital boosting, or other distracting attempts to resharpen the the film. In fact, this is the main reason why I much prefer the look of this release than that of Sullivan's Travels (another release that uses a less-than-stellar transfer created on a Spirit DataCine) which has some quite noticeable traces of built-in sharpening. Overall image stability is good, though some uneven transitions are present. Large debris, cuts, damage marks, and flecks have been removed, but there are also a few that have only been minimized as best as possible. 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 player in order to access its content).

The Exterminating Angel Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Spanish LPCM 1.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

While clarity remains pleasing there are a number of sections throughout the film where light background hiss and thinning are quite easy to hear, which leads me to believe that some of the optical soundtrack prints that were accessed probably had some areas with more prominent deterioration due to aging. Additional work was apparently done to clean and stabilize these sections, but the issue I mention have not been fully addressed. Other than that the dialog is quite easy to follow, while balance remains fairly pleasing.

The Exterminating Angel Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for The Exterminating Angel. In Spanish, with optional English subtitles. (4 min, 1080p).

• The Last Script: Remembering Luis Bunuel - this archival documentary examines the eventful personal life and cinematic legacy of director Luis Bunuel. The overwhelming majority of the information comes via a long and quite fascinating conversation between filmmaker Juan Luis Bunuel (son of the great director) and acclaimed scenarist Jean-Claude Carriere (Belle de Jour, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie). The documentary was produced by Gaizka Urresti and Javier Espada in 2008. In Spanish, with optional English subtitles. (98 min, 1080i).
  
  1. Calanda
  2. Saragossa
  3. The Residence (Madrid)
  4. The Order of Toledo
  5. The surrealists (Paris)
  6. The republic
  7. New York
  8. Los Angeles
  9. The return of a filmmaker (Mexico City)
  10. Cannes
  11. Tristana
  12. Amusements
  13. An obsession with death
  14. "I, Bunuel"

• Silvia Pinal - in this archival interview, actress Silvia Pinal discusses her contribution to the three films she made with Luis Bunuel: The Exterminating Angel, Simon of the Desert, and Viridiana. The interview was conducted in Mexico City in January 2006. In Spanish, with optional English subtitles. (11 min, 1080i).

• Arturo Ripstein - in this archival interview, Mexican director Arturo Ripstein (Deep Crimson) discusses The Exterminating Angel and the impact Luis Bunuel;s work had on his career and Mexican cinema. The interview was conducted in 2006. In English, not subtitled. (15 min, 1080i).

• Booklet - 36-page illustrated booklet featuring Marsha Kinder's essay "Exterminating Civilization", "Luis Bunuel on The Exterminating Angel" (excerpted from archival interviews with the Spanish director), and technical credits.

The Exterminating Angel Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Luis Bunuel unleashes an uncompromising attack on Franco's regime and the elitists that supported it in the classic The Exterminating Angel. Criterion's new Blu-ray release is sourced from a master that I believe was prepared a while ago, but the technical presentation is good. This is an essential film to see and own, so consider having a spot for it in your collections. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.