Viva la muerte Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Viva la muerte Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 23, 2024

The basic "plot" outlines of Viva la muerte are simple enough, but when you mix in the fact that this completely gonzo film might have been made by some weird Frankenstein monster cobbled together out of people like Sigmund Freud and Luis Buñuel, the presentational and narrative aspects of the production start to become considerably more complex, and quite possibly beyond unsettling. That Buñuel reference is perhaps especially salient given the fact that this film was the handiwork of Fernando Arrabal, who shares not just Buñuel's basic "national" background (and "exile" status), but also his penchant for surrealism and provocative political content. Arrabal is famous for having co-founded the so-called Panic Movement (named after the Greek god, whose name has been appropriated etymologically for the more commonly understood noun), along with his cohort member Alejandro Jodorowsky, and like that divinity, this film's focal character, a little boy named Fando (Mahdi Chaouch), can be seen frolicking in the fields, often with a pipe in his hand and/or mouth.

On one level, Viva la muerte is a "simple" tale of Fando and his mother, identified only as La Mère (Núria Espert), but even that part of the story offers totally disturbing psychosexual content as the hormonal Fando fantasizes about Mom in a number of hallucinogenic interstitials. While the timeline seems to be in the waning days of the Spanish Civil War, as some of the supplements on this disc point out, there are clear references to a more contemporary era, adding to the generally disjunctive, askew tone the film frequently features. What also drives the story is Fando's repeated efforts to understand what exactly has happened to his leftist father (Ivan Henriques), who may or may not have been killed by Franco's henchmen, and who in fact may have been turned into the authorities by Fando's more right wing mother.

All of this "plot" information is frankly kind of irrelevant to a film that dabbles (maybe wallows) in such freakish footage that the roiling emotional content becomes increasingly difficult to describe in any kind of rational way. There is some viscerally unsettling imagery here, including what modern day audiences will probably find pretty abhorrent animal slaughtering and/or abuse (one of the supplements tries fitfully to make the case that this kind of approach was "normal" at one time, which some may want to quibble with). That, combined with downright Freudian relationship between Fando and his mother, will make this a difficult viewing experience probably for many, but it also makes Viva la muerte unforgettable, for better or worse.

Viva la muerte Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Viva la muerte is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Radiance Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.66:1. Radiance sent only a check disc for purposes of this review, and so I'm not privy to any verbiage about the transfer that might be included in the insert booklet, but their website offers a brief blurb stating this is a "new 4K restoration of the original 35mm negative by the Cinémathèque Toulouse in collaboration with Fernando Arrabal". A brief text card (in French) at the very end of the film further elaborates that the 4K restoration was accomplished in 2022 utilizing both the negative and an interpositive. As can be seen by parsing through the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review, the presentation is actually split between 35mm film (the odd numbered screenshots) and videotaped and aggressively tweaked footage (the even numbered screenshots). The film material typically looks great, if maybe just slightly cool at times and skewed toward blues. Detail levels are typically excellent, if somewhat variable due to Arrabal's "artier" tendencies. Contrast looked just slightly milky to me, especially in some of the outdoor material. The videotaped footage is so bizarre looking most of the time that it's hard to really assess in the way we typically attempt to in our reviews, with negligible detail at times, but with some intentionally hallucinatory tones added, and with additional (intentional) distressing that makes these segments look like some nightmare-scape come to life.

Viva la muerte Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Viva la muerte features an LPCM 2.0 Mono track in the original French. There's just a bit of high frequency background hiss that is discernable in some of the quieter moments, but the track is otherwise problem free, with a solid accounting of both ambient environmental effects and dialogue, which account for most of the sound design. Brief uses of music, as in the closing credits sequence (featuring illustrations by Roland Topor) also sound fine. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Viva la muerte Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Projection Booth Podcast Commentary features Mike White, Heather Drain and Jess Byard.


• David Archibald (HD; 20:58) is featured in this new interview discussing the film.


• In the Footsteps of Baal (HD; 19:25) is an interesting archival documentary featuring behind the scenes footage of the film being shot. Subtitled in English.


• Vidarrabal (HD; 1:39:36) is another great archival documentary, this one from 2011 focusing on Arrabal and his life and output in various media. Subtitled in English.


• Trailer (HD; 1:15)


• Gallery (HD)

Radiance sent a check disc for purposes of this review, but their website lists their typical packaging, including an insert booklet, reversible sleeve and obi strip.

Viva la muerte Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There are any number of notable films with at least a magical realist component that are tangentially connected to the Spanish Civil War (a couple of Guillermo del Toro outings spring instantly to mind), but Viva la muerte probably takes top honors in this peculiar subcategory. Prospective viewers are warned about some of the shocking imagery that's on tap, but the film has a weird, psychedelic power that is increasingly hypnotic. Technical merits are kind of hard to assess on the video side of things, given the stylistic quirks Arrabal employs, but seem to be generally solid, and the supplements are interesting. For the strong of heart and less squeamish, Recommended.