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Burning (The) AKA El Ardor
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray B - United Kingdom - Arrow Films Review written by and copyright: Matthew Crossman (13th August 2015). |
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The Film
 A group of Grileiros (a Brazilian term meaning people who take land of others by falsifying documents) are deep in the Argentinean rainforest. They are working their way through the forest terrorising farmers and taking their land by force which often involves kidnap and murder. Kai (Gael Garcia Bernal) emerges from the forest at a farm where the owner has been watching the Grileiros approach. They are close now and the farmer, who lives with a farmhand called Jara (Lautaro Vilo) and his daughter Vania (Alice Braga), is concerned. Kai promises he will stay and help the farmer and his family. That night Jara is shot, presumably dead, by the Grileiros and the farmer forced to sign over his farm to the bandits. Kai and Vania hide in the house from the bandits by Vania suddenly makes a move to save her Father but is captured instead. Once the papers to the farm have been signed over the Grileiros leader Tarquinho (Claudio Tolcachir) orders the farmer to be killed. The farmer is then brutally hacked to death in front of Vania, who is then abducted by the men. Kai watches all this from the house. Later, the Grileiros make camp and whilst they sleep Vania tries to escape. She is captured by one of the men who then attempts to rape her. Before he can however Kai appears and disarms the men and Kai and Vania make their escape into the jungle. The next morning the Grileiros go out hunting for the escaped couple. One of the men comes across them, sleeping, but before he can shoot them he is killed by a leopard. Kai then tracks the men back to their base and manages to retrieve the farm paperwork the Vania’s Father signed and makes good his escape, but not before being shot in the torso. Vania finds Kai and manages to get him back to the farm. Jara, who was once a Grileiros but has since changed his ways, has recovered from his gunshot wound and helps Kai recover. Kai, Jara, and Vania know the Grileiros will be back and they start to prepare for the final showdown. This Brazilian/Argentinean co production was released in cinemas in 2014 and highlights the rape of the rainforests in Argentina whilst incorporating it within a modern western setting with some mystical qualities. I suppose the closet most viewers will have come to seeing a film in regards to these themes is a Clint Eastwood revenge film. In fact at the start Kai is seen very much as a Clint Eastwood kind of character. He emerges from the rainforest bare-chested and barefoot and is taken in by the farmer and his family when he offers to help. He is then fed and clothed before witnessing the murder of the farmer before setting off on his mission to reclaim Vania and the farm. Where this film is different is that Kai is seen as some sort of protector of the forest. So much so that the leopard that kills one of the bandits later watches over Kai whilst he sleeps. The premise of the film is decent but what detracts from the film is the almost glacial pace of which it unfolds. There are long passages of the film where nothing much happens and shots are held for almost minutes at a time when better editing would have been preferred. The narrative is a little oblique from time to time as well with characters disappearing from the storyline for sustained periods and then popping back up when it suit’s the need of the storyline. The ecological aspect of the story is not specifically spoken of but the message is clear enough without it being hammered home and this is a definite benefit to the film as a whole. Kai represents the jungle and as the leopard does, he protects against those who want to raze the land and build factories and production plants on it. The film is well shot by director Pablo Fendrik, who also wrote the screenplay, but the film could easily have been 15-20 minutes shorter with no detriment to the story.
Video
2.35:1 AVC 1080p. The picture is very good. The jungle comes alive with vibrant greens of all shade and hue whilst the dusty earthen tones of the farm offset it nicely. Individual droplets of sweat on the characters can easily be picked out. The blacks are extremely black and there is a scene early on where the bandits emerge from the darkness and it’s at a gradual pace as they come out of the dark to be lit up by the fire in the foreground. It’s a very accomplished shot that could easily be overlooked by on this blu-ray the shot looks very good indeed.
Audio
Spanish/English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. The sound is very good with nice use of the rear speakers for rustling branches and falling rain. The sub woofer is fairly inactive but apart from the occasional gunshot this is a pretty quiet film. The score is good and very reminiscent of Sergio Leone at the final gunfight, even with a church bell ringing out twice with very good quality. There are no HoH subtitles. The subtitles that are provided (the film is in Spanish/English language only) are only those that translate the Spanish dialogue of the film.
Extras
The Making of El Ardour (16.17) - A reasonably comprehensive documentary outlining how the story came about and how the actors became involved. All the interviews are carried out on set and there are plenty of behind the scenes shots. All the main cast are featured as is the Director. There are also two trailers that play when the disc first loads. These are for; “Human Capital” (1.37) and “Stations of The Cross” (2.03).
Overall
A well presented film that suffers from it’s languid running time. It takes a while to get going but every time we see a burst of action the direction takes a time out and we have to watch minutes of people slowly trekking through the jungle or characters silently staring at each other. The film would have benefited from some very judicious editing. The cinematography of the jungle is very pleasing but this is not enough to save it from being a slightly above average eco revenge drama (although that might be a niche of it’s own).
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