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Tropicália (Blu-ray)
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray B - United Kingdom - Mr Bongo Films Review written by and copyright: Samuel Scott (6th July 2013). |
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The Film
 ***This is a technical review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE.*** Tropicália, or Tropicalism, is one of Brazil s most significant cultural movements. Born in the late 1960s by a collective of like-minded souls, it used music and visual arts as a voice to confront the cultural and political establishment. And now the scene and its key players are explored in Marcelo Machado's fascinating new film Tropicália. This vibrant feature documentary explores this iconic and era-changing time in Brazil's history with material lovingly gleaned from the archives, stunning images, and the testimony of the groups protagonists including Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Tom Zé, Arnaldo and Sérgio Dias, from the band Os Mutantes, whose controversial thoughts, music and behaviour resulted in prison and exile for its leaders. Then of course there is the music, the Tropicalistas created pop songs, mixing traditional Brazilian folk and the north hemisphere s rock which created a sound never heard before and which has since inspired and influenced many high profile musicians including David Byrne, Damon Albarn and Beck.
Video
Mr Bongo Films gives "Tropicalia" its world home entertainment premiere on blu-ray and present the documentary at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 using an AVC MPEG-4 encode. It's actually a very hard transfer to review, as 95% of the documentary is made up of archive footage from the sixties, and has been looked after by the respective owners, as to be expected, to varying levels of success. Still, it does look as though some impressive work has been done in cleaning up this archive footage and it looks much better than it has any right to. The other 5% or so of footage is made up of newly filmed interviews with some of the musicians of the time. These parts of the documentary look very impressive, though perhaps a little light when it comes to skintones. Either way, detail in the faces and the clothing of the interviewees look strong and there are no signs of any damage at all.
Audio
Just a single audio track is included here: - Portuguese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 I must say, the strength of the audio in the copious amounts of archive footage is impressive. Although the surrounds aren't perhaps used as much as they could've been, the music sounds great. There are no scratches, dropouts or hiss and the vocals of the singers and rhythmic beats sound as clean as one could ever hope. When the surrounds are used, it's mainly for a little boost with some of the music footage, though every now and then it does surprise, such as the subtle effect of a crowd applauding. I've watched many documentaries over the last few years on blu-ray, and I can't think of one with better clarity in archive footage than Tropicalia. Subtitles are available in English and are optional.
Extras
Unfortunately, none.
Overall
Those with even a fleeting interest in world music will find this an essential documentary to watch, but if you're not really a music person, then you'll want to tread carefully and perhaps rent it first, though you should still get some joy from the music. The technical presentation is excellent.
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