7.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
En route to Delhi to receive an award, a Bengali film star reevaluates his success through his fellow passengers, dreams and past experiences.
Starring: Uttam Kumar (I), Sharmila Tagore, Bireswar Sen, Somen BoseForeign | 100% |
Drama | 76% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Bengali: LPCM Mono
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Satyajit Ray's "The Hero" a.k.a. "Nayak" (1966) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an archival interview with actress Shamila Tagore and new video interview with professor Meheli Sen. The release also arrives with a 30-lage illustrated booklet featuring an essay by author Pico Iyer, reprinted tribute to actor Uttam Kumar, and technical credits. In Bengali, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
The interview
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Satyajit Ray's The Hero arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray release:
"This new digital master was produced from a restoration undertaken by RDB Entertainments, under the supervision of Kamal Bansal and Varsha Bansal. For the restoration, a digital transfer was created in 2K resolution on an ARRISCAN film scanner from the 35mm original camera negative and a 35mm print at Pixion in Chennai, India. The original monaural soundtrack was restored by the Academy Film Archive of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from a 35mm composite optical print at Audio Mechanics in Burbank, California. Additional remastering and restoration work was completed by the Criterion Collection in New York.
Project supervisor: Mr. Balaji/Pixion, Chennai, India.
Lead restorers: Mr. Chadrashekhar, Mr. Kiran/Pixion.
Colorists: Mr. Mathews, John Tharyil/Pixion."
RDB Entertainments is also the party behind the recent restorations of Satyajit Ray's The Big City, Charulata, The Coward, and The Holy Man. Unsurprisingly, the overall quality of the technical presentation of The Hero is very similar to that of the rest of the films that are mentioned above.
What immediately becomes very obvious is that the film is healthy and stable. In fact, I would speculate that a massive amount of cleanup work was done to eliminate all age-related imperfections because in the past, when released on home video, Satyajit Ray's films would typically look very rough. The Hero looks fresh, vibrant and virtually spotless. Detail and depth are very pleasing, though there are a few areas where some minor fluctuations can be observed. Work appears to have been done to reabalance the images as best as possible and the end result is quite good. Trained eyes will likely notice a few segments where the digital work that was done to accomplish the evenness also flattens the image a bit, but there are no troubling anomalies. Also, there is a bit of black crush popping here and there, but once again it is extremely mild and unoffensive. A couple of somewhat shaky transitions remain, but overall image stability is very good. (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).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Bengali: LPCM 1.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.
There is some small but noticeable unevenness -- 'boxiness' is perhaps a more accurate description -- that emerges during a few sequences, but to me it is clear that it is how the audio was actually recorded. (The most obvious examples are early in the film before Arindam boards the train). The dialog is stable and very easy to follow. Satyajit Ray also created the score for the film, but its role is secondary. There are no audio dropouts or digital distortions to report.
Success often comes at a price that one can fully comprehended only years later, after one has already undergone an irreversible transformation. Sometimes it is easy to come to terms with the 'discovery' and quickly move away from it, but more often than not after the realization there is a very painful recovery period that can cause some permanent scars. The Hero marked the first collaboration between Satyajit Ray and the popular Bengali actor Uttam Kumar, and it is about a very successful movie star who has began realizing that he has sacrificed an awful lot to get to the top. It has some very interesting Fellini-esque overtones that have rightfully compelled many viewers to compare it to the timeless 8½. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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