Blair (2008)

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General		Extras
Category	Documentary	None
Rating
Year Of Production	2008
Running Time	104:00
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Sally Brindle Dollan Cannell Richard Sanders
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	?	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    There are moments in every great documentary, perhaps even mundane documentaries, which sum up the subject so well that they cause a sharp intake of breath. In the 2 part documentary Blair it comes right at the end. The last question has been asked and Tony Blair looks for a moment entirely lost - after a seemingly eternal pause he says quietly "Is that it?" and disappears from the interview and pretty much from political life. It is a remarkably naked moment from a politician who, love him or hate him, had charm, charisma and a remarkable self-assuredness.

This DVD contains two separate docos - Blair at War and Blair in Power, both of which run for about 50 minutes.

The first, Blair at War looks at the man at his most controversial when he went from the popular leader to one having the lowest opinion ratings of any post war Labour leader. The film shows how his blinding conviction that appeasement did not work led to his greatest military success in Kosovo yet also saw him stumble into the Iraq conflict, being seen by many as the lapdog of George W Bush.

A high profile politician calls for high profile commentators and Bush, Clinton, Kofi Annan and a gallery of British politicians make an appearance. Even Hans "Don't Blame Me" Blix turns up to give his 2 cents worth. The show is fascinating as a compressed history of the British involvement in the Gulf conflict but it is by no means a tar brush expose of the man. The time to grill him over the WMD scandals is long gone and asking him now whether he lied about the information received from the Secret Service is like asking a guilty looking co-worker if they took the last Tim Tam from the office cookie barrel.

The second documentary is an attempt to understand Blair the man and the politician. It posits the theory that Blair was at his leadership best when the country didn't want him anymore. There is an astonishing moment early on where Blair talks about his unreadiness for power, seen in his naiveté in dealing with the Queen when he took power. He begins to talk, pauses, and then says "what happened in the film?" whereby we are treated to an excerpt from the film. Life imitating art imitating life!

This episode shows how Blair may well be remembered for the Iraq war but that his achievements in power were many, particularly his brokering of the Northern Ireland Peace Process. He was there at some of history's greatest moments and always seemed to say the right thing. The "peoples princess" comment may be his most remembered phrase however his own princess, Cherie, doesn't make an appearance. No doubt she was busy preparing her tell all memoirs!

Again this is not a particularly deep study as the man is at the brink of retirement. The chance to really probe him has passed. Blair also proves a wily and slippery adversary using weasel words whenever pressed. His favourite word is belief and his favourite phrase is "doing the right thing". As one pollie complains, you can never argue with a man who says what he is doing is the "right thing" as it has no empirical method of measurement.

Ultimately this is a pair of documentaries for those who know a little about the man and his 10 year career at the top of British politics. Those who already know the ins and outs may find it light on for true detail. The episodes are expertly narrated by British actor Matthew McFadyen (Death at a Funeral).

Video

    Blair was shot on digital video and comes to DVD in a PAL 1.78:1 transfer which is 16x9 enhanced.

Given the fact that the show occupies only 100 minutes of disc time it is perhaps not surprising that it appears on a single DVD5. Does this affect the quality? Not really. The docos are composed of good looking interview footage shot on high definition video and everything else is noisy low quality news footage. The interview scenes are clear and crisp.

The skin tones are true and accurate even if Blair seems a lot older than I remember! The news and stock footage is appropriate to the period and afflicted by all the hallmarks of old video including aliasing, excessive noise, some colour bleeding etc.

There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

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Audio

    Blair has a Dolby Digital soundtrack running at 224 Kb/s.

This is perfectly adequate for the documentaries. The most important element, the interview sections, are rendered clearly rendering subtitles unnecessary.

The dialogue is in audio sync.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
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Overall

There are no extras on this DVD.

   This DVD is all regions.

    Blair was a complex politician whose life doesn't submit easily to examination. As a result the series is an interesting guide to his life in power but is probably not detailed enough to satisfy the hard core political historian.

The demands of this type of documentary are meagre and their are no disappointments in the production.

Video
Audio
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