Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

The Moment of Truth Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 22, 2011

Francesco Rosi's "Il momento della verità" a.k.a. "The Moment of Truth" (1965) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The only extra feature on the disc is an exclusive interview with the Italian director recorded by Criterion in Italy in 2004. The disc also arrives with an illustrated booklet featuring an essay by critic Peter Matthews. In Italian, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The Last Dance

The Moment of Truth is a disturbingly brutal but at the same time indescribably beautiful film. The cold breath of death is easily felt in it, yet the film celebrates life and a very unique culture.

Miguel, a peasant from Andalucía, heads to Barcelona to try his luck. After a few days of looking for leads, he finally gets a job that pays almost enough for him not to starve. Frustrated and disillusioned, he begins spending time in a shady bar on the outskirts of the city where other men like him and cheap prostitutes like to mingle.

Someone mentions to Miguel that in the bar’s basement there is an old man who could teach him how to bullfight. The two meet and, for a proper fee, the old man allows Miguel to join his students. Very soon, he becomes the best of the bunch and the old man agrees to get him in a real bullfight in a small village outside of Barcelona.

Miguel’s beautiful moves immediately impress a local manager who promises to get him to the big corridas in Madrid and Barcelona and make him rich. The two sign a contract and soon after Miguel becomes a star. But the loud stadiums, the pressure to compete in as many corridas as possible, and the after-parties soon begin to affect Miguel’s performance. Fear also settles in his mind.

Based on a story by Pedro Beltran, Italian director Francesco Rosi’s first color film The Moment of Truth is undoubtedly one of his best. It was shot in Spain during Franco’s regime with non-professional actors and like most of the Italian director’s films, it has a semi-documentary style.

The main protagonist, Miguel, is played by real-life bullfighter Miguel Romero 'Miguelín'. Unsurprisingly, the long sequences where he is seen bullfighting are simply breathtaking - the man’s moves are remarkably elegant but often incredibly dangerous. There is one short sequence, in particular, where he touches the forehead of a bull choking in his own blood that must have given his poor mother a heart attack.

There are other sequences in the film that are just as intense. For example, before one of the most highly anticipated bullfights begins a dozen angry bulls are unleashed on the streets with brave men running in front of them and then redirected to a stadium (the event is known in Spain as Running of the Bulls). The bulls begin flipping the men and quite a few of them get seriously hurt. There are absolutely no special effects here and some of the visuals are indeed quite disturbing.

Director Rosi and the great Italian cinematographers Pasqualino De Santis (Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo & Juliet, Luchino Visconti’s Death in Venice) and Gianni Di Venanzo (Michelangelo Antonioni’s La notte, Federico Fellini’s 8½) chose special wide-angle 300mm lens to shoot the bullfights. Used typically for large sporting events, such as football matches, the lens provided tremendous image depth and clarity, and thus effectively placed the viewer right next to Miguel and the bulls he faced. Some of the footage the crew shot was truly overwhelming. Director Rosi started the film with Di Venanzo but finished it with De Santis because the former suffered tremendously while watching the intense bullfights.

Note: In 1965, The Moment of Truth was nominated for the prestigious Palme d’Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival. During the same year, the film won Best Director Award at the David di Donatello Awards.

The Moment of Truth Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Francesco Rosi's The Moment of Truth arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

Detail has a tendency to fluctuate, particularly during the bullfights, where the natural light and some quick zooms affect clarity. This isn't to say, however, that there are serious technical issues with the presentation; large portions of the film look raw because this is how they were filmed. Contrast also varies, though again, the unique filming conditions have certainly contributed to these fluctuations. This being said, the high-definition transfer has not been struck from an extensive new restoration of the film. Naturally, grain is not always well resolved. Some mild sharpening is also noticeable but it is never overly distracting, Color reproduction is convincing. With the exception of one frame skip that appears during the second half of the film, there are no serious stability issue either. All in all, I am very pleased with the presentation as I have never been able to find a proper release of The Moment of Truth to add it to my library. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

The Moment of Truth Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: Italian LPCM 1.0. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

The dialog is crisp, stable, and easy to follow (please keep in mind that there is plenty of dubbing in the film and the lip-sync discrepancies are normal). Mild background hiss, however, occasionally pops up here and there. It is not overwhelming, but its presence is certainly felt. Also, the loseless track's dynamic amplitude is quite limited, but this should not surprise anyone. For the record, there are no problematic distortions or audio dropouts to report in this review.

The Moment of Truth Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Francesco Rosi - the Italian director recalls how The Moment of Truth came to exist, and specifically the various obstacles his crew faced in Spain and the contributions of cinematographers Pasqualino De Santis and Gianni Di Venanzo. The video interview was recorded exclusively for Criterion in Italy in 2004. In Italian, with optional English subtitles. (14 min, 1080i).

• Booklet - an illustrated booklet featuring an essay by critic Peter Matthews.

The Moment of Truth Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Francesco Rosi's The Moment of Truth is an astonishing film, arguably the greatest bullfighting film ever made. It is wild, it is brutal, it is beautiful and at times even erotic. Some of Miguel Romero's moves are poetry in motion. Criterion's presentation of the film is pleasing. Let's hope that eventually we will also see proper releases of the Italian director's very difficult to see More Than a Miracle and Lucky Luciano. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.