Carandiru (2003) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Drama |
Dolby Digital Trailer Audio Commentary-Director Deleted Scenes-7 Featurette-Historical Footage - State Penitentiary 1928 Featurette-Historical Footage - Carandiru's Implosion Featurette-Making Of |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2003 | ||
Running Time | 139:28 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | Dual Layered | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 2,4,5 | Directed By | Hector Babenco |
Studio
Distributor |
Sony Pictures Home Entertain |
Starring |
Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos Milton Gonçalves Ivan de Almeida Ailton Graça Maria Luisa Mendonça Aida Leiner Rodrigo Santoro Rita Cadillac Gero Camilo Lázaro Ramos Caio Blat Wagner Moura Júlia Ianina |
Case | ? | ||
RPI | $39.95 | Music | André Abujamra |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Portuguese Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) |
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Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles |
English Spanish Dutch Arabic Czech Danish Finnish Greek Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Norwegian Polish Portuguese Swedish Turkish English Audio Commentary Spanish Audio Commentary Dutch Audio Commentary English for the Hearing Impaired |
Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
Carandiru is based on true events. On August 12th 2002, Brazil's most notorious penitentiary was finally brought down in a series of implosions. One cellblock was left standing for the purpose of leaving a museum. Sao Paulo Penitentiary, also known as Carandiru was the scene of a calamitous massacre on October 3rd, 1992.
Carandiru was originally built to house 3000 inmates, but held over 7500 at the time of the massacre. All manner of criminals were detained at Carandiru, from the most serious murderers and drug dealers to petty criminals.
Acclaimed Brazilian director Hector Babenco has focused on similar themes before, in Pixote (1981) and Kiss Of The Spiderwoman (1985). He doesn't use cinema to produce light hearted entertainment. All his films have profound and complex subject matter, and many have been very controversial. Babenco is an intense filmmaker and re-works scenes with his actors constantly until he gets his desired result. His many years of work to get this story to the screen have been vindicated in Carandiru .
The film was shot on three locations, at Carandiru (while still in operation), Hippodrome Prison, and Vera Cruz Studios. The latter was used to accurately re-create the interiors of cellblock nine, complete with stairs, hallways and twenty five cells.
The inmates virtually ran Carandiru as a closed community. Prisoners outnumbered guards quite considerably, so supervision was negligible. They had their own laws, and punishments for those who failed to comply. Where anarchy should rule, the opposite was the case for the most part. That is, until a minor incident sparked a riot that led to the storming of the jail by police, and the massacre of 111 inmates.
Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos plays a doctor brought into the penitentiary to introduce an AIDS prevention program. He quickly gains the respect of the inmates, who also confide in him in other matters. In casual conversation, they openly tell their stories, which we see in flashback sequences. In real life, the doctor's name is Drauzio Varella. He used their stories and his experience in Carandiru to write a best selling novel, entitled Carandiru Station. It is essentially this novel that the film is based upon.
Carandiru runs the gamut of emotions. There is a lot of subtle humour mixed with pathos, and of course extreme violence. As you would expect, any penitentiary of this size housed a full spectrum of personalities. The large ensemble cast all offer excellent performances. Ivan de Almeida plays Ebony, who is the top dog in the cellblock. He controls everything from the flow of drugs to approving the killing of rebellious inmates. Vico (Wagner Moura) descends into madness due to his excessive drug consumption. His adopted brother, Deusdete (Caio Blat), tries to keep Vico from self-destruction, while dealing with his own missed opportunities in the outside world. Dagger (Milhem Cortaz) is a contract killer who eventually repents and finds religion. And Highness (Ailton Graca) has two women in his life, and keeping them apart on visitor's day proves very difficult.
We are introduced to a myriad of these inmates, all with their own unique tales, all culminating in the bloodbath which gave Carandiru its infamy. Hector Babenco has created an enthralling and moving film experience. Combined with an outstanding transfer to DVD, it is a film worth repeated viewings.
Considerable effort has gone into this transfer, which is excellent.
The presented aspect ratio of the transfer is 1.85:1, and it is 16x9 enhanced. I believe this is the original aspect ratio.
The transfer is sharp and clear for the most part. There was some very minor grain at times, but this was really not a problem. There are many scenes in darkness or shadow. These scenes are clean and clear of any low level noise. Black levels are very impressive. It was critical that the DVD stood up in this area, as much of the film's climax takes place in darkened cells and passageways. Detail in these scenes remained excellent.
Interior colours are consistently soft, but very natural, throughout the film. There are a lot of pastel greens used in the cells and corridors - these colours looked great in the context of the film. Colours overall are outstanding, with not a hint of oversaturation.
Artefacts of any description were very scarce here. There were no problems with MPEG artefacts. I had to look very hard to find any edge enhancement, which was so minimal that you would not notice it in normal viewing. Equally impressive was the lack of aliasing, considering the copious numbers of prison bars and mesh shown in the film. There was no evidence of any film artefacts.
This DVD has subtitles in numerous languages, including English and English captions for the hearing impaired. I viewed both of these options, and found them easily legible. The other subtitles offered are Spanish, Arabic, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish and Turkish.
The disc is single-sided and dual-layered. The layer change occurs at 93:39. It is noticeable, and could have been better placed.
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The audio transfer is as impressive as the video.
There are three audio tracks on the DVD. The default is Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s). The other audio option for the film is Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s). The audio commentary and special features tracks are in Portuguese Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s).
It is difficult to comment on the dialogue, as I don't speak either of the languages presented. However, they both sounded very clear. I viewed the film carefully with the default audio track, and found the sync to be spot on.
The music score for Carandiru was composed by Andre Abujamra .It complimented the film beautifully, and never overpowered the action on screen.
The surrounds were used perfectly. Much of the film is dialogue driven, so in these quieter moments, the surrounds were used for ambient prison sounds. They were then used magnificently in the riot and massacre scenes to immerse the viewer in the middle of the action. You are surrounded by yelling and general chaos from all directions. A low flying helicopter during these scenes sounded like it was circling outside my house.
The subwoofer was used moderately, supporting mainly gunshots and the aforementioned helicopter.
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Menu
The menu has a theme based around the film, and is 16x9 enhanced. It is not animated, and has no audio.
Director's Audio Commentary - Hector Babenco (Director)
Hector Babenco speaks consistently through the film with only minor breaks. He points out many interesting facts relating to the making of the film and its locations. He does tend to describe the scene at times, which can get a little boring. Overall though, I found it very informative and well worth the effort of reading the subtitles. The audio track here is Portuguese Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s).
Documentary - The Making of Carandiru (31:52)
A good companion to the film, featuring interviews with actors and crew members. Also interviewed is the real doctor, Drauzio Varella . We see a lot of behind the scenes footage, including Babenco workshopping ideas with actors. Raw film footage is intercut with the finished product. This shows a good example of full frame imaging with boom mikes in shot, then cutting to the finished print with matting removing the unwanted information. The audio track here is Portuguese Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s), with subtitles available in English, Spanish and Dutch only.
Historical Footage - State Penitentiary 1928 (7:16)
Old sepia toned footage of a day in the life of an inmate at Carandiru in 1928. There is no spoken audio, just a minor music track, with subtitles. There is a constant audio flutter noise. As with the documentary, the available subtitles are English, Spanish and Dutch.
Historical Footage - Carandiru Implosion (1:16)
Nine cameras captured the implosion of Carandiru in 2002...enjoy.
Deleted Scenes
Seven deleted scenes are included on the DVD, with no explanation as to why they were removed. All are presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 letterboxed. The last three on the list are time coded, so it is difficult to read the subtitles. English, Spanish and Dutch are the only subtitle options here as well.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The R1 version of Carandiru has the same extras as the R4 version. It differs only in being NTSC and offering different subtitle options.
There is also an R4 Carandiru Special Edition, which is a Brazilian version presented as a two disc set. This has all the same extras plus these additional extras; "Globo Reporter" TV show with 3 documentaries about the Carandiru prison (The Massacre, Jailhouse, and The Demolition). These additional documentaries are in Portuguese with no optional subtitles. This transfer is also NTSC.
Unless, you can understand Portuguese for the documentaries on the Brazilian version, I would pick the PAL transfer of the standard R4 version any day.
Carandiru is an excellent film depicting a dark day in Brazil's history.
The video quality is outstanding, as is the audio quality.
The film was a box office hit in Brazil, grossing more than The Matrix Reloaded. Anyone who loves prison dramas, or world cinema in general, really should add Carandiru to their collection. Superb performances from the large ensemble cast will make repeated viewings a pleasure.
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Review Equipment | |
DVD | JVC XV-N412, using Component output |
Display | Hitachi 106cm Plasma Display 42PD5000MA (1024x1024). This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080i. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated. |
Amplification | Panasonic SA-HE70 80W Dolby Digital and DTS |
Speakers | Fronts: Jensen SPX7 Rears: Jensen SPX4 Centre: Jensen SPX13 Subwoofer: Jensen SPX17 |