Borgia: Faith & Fear-Complete First Season (2011)

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General		Extras
Category	TV Historical Drama	None
Rating
Year Of Production	2011
Running Time	663:17
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Multi Disc Set (4)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Metin Hüseyin Christoph Schrewe Dearbhla Walsh Oliver Hirschbiegel
Studio Distributor	Icon Entertainment	Starring	John Doman Stanley Weber Mark Ryder Isolda Dychauk Dejan Cukic Christian McKay Marta Gastini Diarmuid Noyes John Bradley
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Cyril Morin

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)/480i (NTSC)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Borgia is a European TV co-production, not the Jeremy Irons starring The Borgias. This release in Australia from Icon contains all twelve episodes of Series 1, each approximately 54 minutes in length except for the final episode which is 65 minutes, on four DVDs. The title credit sequence gives the name as Borgia: Faith and Fear although it is also listed on sales sites as Borgia: House of Sin. The series commenced with Season 1 in 2011, and is currently heading into Season 3.

     Borgia commences in 1492. Italy is divided into warring states, including the Papal States centred on Rome, and is threatened with invasion from the French to the north and the Moslems to the south. The incumbent Pope Innocent VIII is dying, and the Cardinals are manoeuvring to be named his successor. One such ambitious cardinal is Rodrigo Borgia (John Doman), but he has a Spanish background and is looked down upon by the great Roman families of the Orsino and Colonna. The main opposition to Rodrigo within the College of Cardinals comes from Cardinal Guiliano Della Rovere (Dejan Cukic) who favours France while Rodrigo favours Spain.

     Borgia follows the machinations of Rodrigo and his illegitimate children: the soldier Juan (Stanley Weber), his father’s favourite but a womaniser whose abilities fall a long way short of his estimation of himself, Cesare (Mark Ryder), ambitious and able, destined for the priesthood although he is impetuous and does not want to be a priest, and daughter Lucrezia (Isolda Dychauk), used by her father as a pawn in his manipulations although she really only wants to fall in love and get married to a suitable man. When Innocent dies and Rodrigo is elected Pope Alexander VI, after much intrigue, bribery, underhand tricks and an unholy alliance with Cardinal Sforza (Christian McKay), his problems with his unruly family, his mistress and his enemies within the College of Cardinals, Rome, the Italian states and France, are only just beginning.

     Season 1 covers the years 1492 - 1493. The series takes a while to get going for it has a lot of people to introduce, as well as their alliances and rivalries. The writing over the series is inconsistent, sometimes strong, sometimes very contrived as other characters are introduced only to disappear, but each episode starts with a voiceover review of the story and while the series focuses upon Rodrigo and his children you can just go with the flow and pick up some of the other characters as you go along, such as Rodrigo’s conniving young mistress Giulia Farnese (Marta Gastini) or Cesare’s friends Alessandro Franese (Diarmuid Noyes) or the young Cardinal Giovanni de Medici (John Bradley). Some episodes, such as where the College of Cardinals are electing the next Pope, are very talky and not much happens: manipulation and intrigue may sound interesting but it is not really all that exciting as visual television. However, with the election over, Rodrigo Pope and France invading, the series picks up steam and interest. However, there are really no sympathetic characters in the series, except perhaps for Lucrezia who is one of the few people in the series who do not act totally out of self-interest; none of the other main characters are sympathetic or admirable, unless cheating, lying, manipulation and murder are admirable.

     I am in no position to judge how accurately Borgia portrays the times or the history, but I have read that while some liberties have been made for dramatic licence the series is reasonably true to life and the people depicted were real people. As well, there is a suggestion that the series is based partly on the writings of a man who was there: The Papal Master of Ceremonies played in the series by Victor Schefe. If so, the Vatican in the 15th century was rife with corruption, nepotism, with self-interest overweighing allegiance to the church and God, where young men from wealthy families were made Cardinals before even completing their training as a priest, and with no interest in chastity, as Pope Alexander VI openly keeps his mistress and child in the palace. Not that he is alone in ignoring chastity, however.

     There is no doubt that Borgia as a series is brutal and bloody, slowing the murders and knife fights of the times as well as quite graphic torture. It also does not shy away from the filth and grime of the streets of Medieval Italy, where pigs roam and rats and disease are rife. The series is also not short on full frontal male and female nudity and sex scenes, but they do seem to be in the context of a society were privacy is far less of an issue than in modern times.

     The budget of Borgia is clearly not huge, with sets and establishing shots repeated frequently, and pretty much all the action takes place off stage. Although the episodes can be uneven, at times Borgia is strong and challenging television, with murders, manipulation and sex in abundance.

Video

     Borgia is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, the original broadcast ratio, and is16x9 enhanced.

     Detail throughout the series is generally sharp and crisp. Colours are muted, the exteriors dull and grimy reflecting the squalor on the streets; the interiors of the Vatican, the cardinal’s palaces, the churches and monasteries are much deeper and richer, but nothing is over bright, even the crimson of the cardinal’s robes. That is not a criticism – the sets and costumes look genuine. Skin tones are natural, blacks solid and shadow detail very good. There are no marks or scratches but aliasing is reasonably frequent (for examples see the Pope’s robe, episode 2 8:20, or the grill, episode 3 46:43), and some episodes exhibit heavy digital grain, especially episodes 7 and 8 which inhibit detail (see, for example episode 8 12:51). Otherwise artefacts were absent.

     English subtitles for the hearing impaired are in a clear white font.

     The layer changes on disc 1, episode 2 at 29:51, disc 2, episode 6 26:50, disc 3, episode 7 29:16 and disc 4, episode 11 27:00 were mostly mid scene and all resulted in slight pauses.

     Over the 10 hours of the series the print is generally good, with acceptable detail and natural colours.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is an English Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps.

     Dialogue is generally understandable, although some of the European accents, such as Marta Gastini’s, take a little getting used to. The sound stage is mostly front oriented, with the surrounds used for music, and the occasional effect such as insects, rain, marching feet or crowd noise. The sub-woofer added bass to the music mostly.

     The score by Cyril Morin is heavy with strings, with cello prominent, and percussion. It is epic in feel, fitting the tone of the series.

     I did not notice any lip synchronization problems.

     The audio is fine.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     There are no extras.

     Borgia is released in an identical 4 disc set in Region 2 UK without extras. The Region 1 US version does have a featurette that is said to be interesting.

     A European TV co-production, Borgia is full of intrigue, manipulation, violence, sex and nudity. The writing is never quite as strong as it should be and, except perhaps for Lucrezia, none of the main characters are sympathetic or admirable. Nevertheless, the series is worth a look for anyone interested in the history of the Catholic Church, the history of this turbulent period in Italian history, or period drama.

     The video and the audio are fine. There are no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall