7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
The story of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, who led a rebellion against the corrupt, oppressive dictatorship of president Porfirio Diaz in the early 20th century.
Starring: Marlon Brando, Jean Peters, Anthony Quinn, Joseph Wiseman, Arnold MossWestern | 100% |
Biography | 13% |
War | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
History | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono (224 kbps)
French: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono (224 kbps)
English SDH, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Stop me if you've heard this one—two former communists and a white Method actor in brown-face make a movie...
Okay, so there's no punchline to that would-be joke, but the film in question, of course, is 1952's Viva Zapata!, written by John Steinbeck,
directed by Elia Kazan—the two one-time communists—and starring a hispani-fied Marlon Brando, whose career was in quick ascendance after his
powerful turn in Kazan's previous effort, the Tennessee Williams adaptation A Streetcar Named Desire. Brando would re-team with Kazan
again in 1954 for the union drama On the Waterfront, and so Viva Zapata! is often overshadowed, sandwiched between two films of
such iconic stature. Of their three collaborations, Zapata! is undoubtedly the weakest—it has nothing quite as potent as Streetcar's
raw sensuality or Waterfront's underdog consciousness—but it is an object of interest as one of Kazan's most atypical films, moving away from
social realism and toward a kind of political mythologizing, making the biography of famed Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata more romantic (and
tidy) than it actually was. "Whitewashed" is a good term here; not only does the film treat Zapata and the Mexican Revolution rather euphemistically,
it also features precious few Hispanic actors in the key roles.
I always look forward to 20th Century Fox's remasters of Elia Kazan films, not only because the films themselves are so good, but because Fox does such a damn good job presenting them in high definition for the first time. Viva Zapata arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer that has obviously been given a careful frame-by-frame restoration. You might spot a few fleeting white specks and a few instances of light brightness fluctuations across the duration of the movie, but that's about it for print damage—no harsh scratches, no hairs, no jittering, no real issues whatsoever. (The lone oddity is that the opening credit sequence is lightly windowboxed for some reason before expanding fully to the intended Academy aspect ratio.) Fox has wisely kept the film's 35mm grain structure and natural integrity intact—no DNR or obvious edge enhancement here—so the picture looks wonderfully organic and rich. There are some noticeably soft scenes here and there, but clarity is usually exceptional, pulling out the fine detail in dirty linen shirts, straw sombreros, and the weathered faces of Zapata and his revolutionaries. The monochrome gradation is handled perfectly too; blacks are deep and consistent—without crushing shadow detail—and whites are bright without ever looking overblown. It's hard to imagine the film looking much better than it does here.
Rather than try to rework the original single-channel audio into a 5.1 mix, 20th Century Fox has given us a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio mono track that's true to source. Like the transfer, there are no significant age-related damage issues here. Crackles, hisses, and pops have been largely attenuated, and though the sound has a somewhat thin dynamic range—like most films from the 1950s—clarity is strong, and the mix can stand being turned up rather loud. Most importantly, dialogue is always clear and easy to understand, even when the deepest register of Brando's voice is at its roundest and most mumbly. A Streetcar Named Desire composer Alex North is responsible for the film's wonderful modernist, Latin-inflected score, and several scenes also include moving diegetic music, including a sad romantic sing-along during the scene of Zapata's wedding night, and a triumphant, horn-heavy march through the streets when the revolution is over. It all sounds excellent within the context of 1950s audio recording capabilities. The disc also includes Spanish and French Dolby Digital mono dubs, along with English SDH and Spanish subtitles, which appear in white lettering.
The only extras on the disc, unfortunately, are the film's Theatrical Trailer (HD, 3:18) and Spanish Trailer (HD, 2:48).
Viva Zapata isn't nearly as well-known or well-regarded as Kazan and Brando's other famous collaborations—A Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront—but if it's not an important film, it is a curious and entertaining one, part romanticized biography, part corruption-of-power fable, and part white-washed political history. For as wrong as it seems now, Brando in brown-face is legitimately excellent as the titular revolutionary, simmering in the conflict between the role that's been thrust upon him and his reluctancy to lead. This would make a great triple feature with the two parts of Steven Soderbergh's Che, which it certainly influenced to some extent. 20th Century Fox's Blu-ray release is short on special features—you'll find only theatrical trailers here—but the striking 1080p transfer is reason enough to upgrade from the long-outdated DVD. Recommended!
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