7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A detainee at the U.S. military's Guantanamo Bay detention camp is held without charges for over a decade and seeks help from a defense attorney for his release.
Starring: Jodie Foster, Tahar Rahim, Zachary Levi, Saamer Usmani, Shailene WoodleyBiography | 100% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
The larger political and humanitarian debates surrounding the process of detaining terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay in the months and years following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks are better left to political discussion forums, but at the heart of Director Kevin Macdonald's (Whitney) The Mauritanian is the intimate story of one man's detention at that same prison and the legal battle that followed his imprisonment. The film is not concerned, generally, with the larger picture of the political process or the ins-and-outs of the military's detainment of various terror suspects. Rather, its focus is on one man and his journey through a hellish time of torture and confinement and the roadblocks and stumbles his legal team encounters along the way, which do by necessity, but not by exclusivity, point to the larger picture in which due process and humanitarian considerations are erased from the equation. The film rightly, and compellingly, leaves its eye on the man rather than the system at large.
The Mauritanian's 1080p transfer achieves the expected level of excellence for a new, digitally photographed film making the transition to high definition Blu-ray. Most of The Mauritanian is presented on Blu-ray in a standard ~2.39:1 framing. The picture is exceptionally sharp, achieving a level of detail reserved for the finest images. Close-up shots reveal super-fine detail on hairs, skin, and applied makeup. There's nothing left to the imagination and the image's clarity pushes Blu-ray to its limits. This applies to various locations, too, whether densely packed office spaces or spartan, worn-down prison cell and interrogation room interiors. Sharpness abounds in every shot, scene, and sequence; there's no such thing as a soft or fuzzy element here. Color output is equally brilliant. Tones are well balanced and bold, particularly some of the more vivid accents like Nancy's red lipstick. Essential clothing colors and the like enjoy perfectly bold and natural color reproduction with contrast running straight down the middle. Black levels are excellent (look at a nighttime exterior at the 89-minute mark). Skin tones are likewise in full command and naturally balanced. Noise is kept to a minimum, only spiking in challenging low-light interiors. Light banding can be seen at the 1:32:52 mark but is not a persistent issue by any stretch of the imagination. The image does transition to a window box aspect ratio when the film explores Mohamedou's past time at Gitmo, essentially closing in the frame as the story closes in on the story of his imprisonment. These scenes have a grainer appearance as well and a somewhat more desaturated color appearance.
Universal brings The Mauritanian to Blu-ray with an impressively spacious, balanced, and detailed DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The track is full and satisfying and is home to plenty of opportunities for atmospheric recreation, such as waves along the Cuban coast, blowing wind around the camp, and general din around the prison exterior, including rattling chain link fences, radio chatter, and the like. This extends to office spaces, too, where chatter, ringing phones, and other familiar audio cues pleasantly filter into the listening area from all corners. Various one-off sound effects play with positive clarity and perfect stage balance, such as when heavy doors rumble closed in the spartan detention interview facility. Music is additionally well balanced; it's wide across the front, most often engaging through the rears with subtle engagement, and featuring a modest low end support. Musical clarity is excellent, even as it's generally not one of the more prominent audio elements in the film, save for a stretch later in the film when Heavy Metal music blasts into the stage as part of a torture regimen. Dialogue is the main audio component within the track, and it plays with superb prioritization, adherence to a font-center position, and seamless, lifelike detail.
Universal's Blu-ray release of The Mauritanian includes an alternate open, deleted scenes, and a pair of featurettes. A DVD copy of the film and
an AppleTV digital copy code are included with purchase. This release ships with a non-embossed slipcover.
The Mauritanian blends dark story lines with essential humanity to excellent dramatic impact and emotional investment. It's well performed, fully engaging, and technically sound. Universal's Blu-ray delivers top-tier video, excellent audio, and a smattering of extras. Recommended.
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