Beyond
The Edge
(2013/MPI/Sundance DVD)/Fire
In Babylon (2011/Altitude
Region Free PAL Import DVD)/Freeload
(2014/MVD Visual DVD)/Level
Five (1996/Icarus
DVD)/Lost For Life
(2014/Snagfilm DVD)/I Am
Ali (2014/Universal
Blu-ray)
Picture:
C+/C+/C/C+/C+/B- Sound: C+ (Ali:
B-) Extras: C-/C+/D/C/D/C Main Programs: B-/B-/C/B-/B-/B
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Fire
In Babylon
Import DVD is now only available from our friends at Altitude
Entertainment in England, is Region Free despite being marked Region
Two and can only play on DVD players that can handle the PAL format.
Here
are the latest documentary releases of interest...
Leanna
Pooley's Beyond
The Edge
(2013) is
a new documentary on how New Zealand's Sir Edmund Hillary conquered
Mt. Everest in 1953 as part of a well-trained and equipped British
team that was going to get to the top no matter what it took. Though
the story is nearly legendary and many films and Tv shows have been
done on the subject (including a IMAX film), Pooley finds new
archival footage, recreates some scenes and comes up with new
interviews to give us a new part of what is an extraordinary story of
what was a very big deal in its time before PCs, the Moon Landing and
digital everything.
I
have to admit I was a bit skeptical and the reenactments are not may
favorite thing in these programs, but the rest of it is more than
enough that everyone should see this one at least once. It also
shows us how science makes so many great things possible when you
have a group of naysayers who want to pretend it does not matter or
exist. Triumphs like this show why we must never forget these
accomplishments and support as many more as possible.
A
trailer is the only extra.
Stevan
Riley's Fire
In Babylon
(2011)
tells the little-told story of how a cricket team from the West
Indies challenged the apartheid and white nationalism of British
Society and its satellite countries in the 1970s by breaking into the
popular national game and changing it forever. Yes there was plenty
of racism, regret and those used to the old ways stunned that any
young upstarts could challenge the way things were, but add that they
were men of color from a country the British Empire looked down on
was a real shocker.
A
combination of fine new interviews, rare film & video footage and
even clever animation manages to stuff in some great stuff at 83
solid minutes. Note that this is an import DVD, but is so good, it
really deserves to be seen by more in the U.S. (or The States as we
are known overseas) and is just great storytelling and great sports
history that the likes of an ESPN should snag immediately!
Extras
include an interviews featurette and four additional featurette clips
on the sport, history and people involved.
Daniel
Skaggs' Freeload
(2014)
wants to see what has happened to the sometimes oddly romanticized
figure of the Hobo, the man who drifts freely by hopping trains
(especially from a time when they were the primary way to travel
before planes and cars replaced them) with hardly any money or
resources if any and somehow surviving. He follows some young people
choosing to be as outside of the system as you can get and though
this is a short 65 minutes, it does not go on long enough or say
enough.
Comparisons
of the old myth and new reality, political or not, are not taken up
and though this has some rough footage that took the director courage
to get by sticking with the persons here (one of whom does not
survive as a reminder that these persons are easily the target of
attack and murder that never gets resolved) to get the story. It is
journalistically sound, but stops short of getting an even bigger
picture, though the subjects point out how they do not want to be in
a system that treats them in a dehumanized way as was the hippie
argument in the 1960s, et al. Reminding me of the homelessness
documentary Dark Days (reviewed elsewhere on this site), it
reminds me of how the poor have been so ignored and trashed since the
1980s in a situation that is only going to get worse. Sad.
There
are no extras.
Chris
Marker's Level
Five
(1996) is
a surreal video project by the director of La
Jette
(which inspired Terry Gilliam's 12
Monkeys)
using ideas of then-computer information and organization concepts to
explore how Okinawa was mindlessness and senselessly sacrificed by
Imperialist Japan in the waning years of WWII and how little this is
discussed. Catherine Belkhodja is the de facto PC user/explorer who
stands as a surrogate for the audience and is very compelling
herself.
This
might not be for everyone, yet it is smart, consistent and despite
dating tech wise, the story and facts are as relevant as ever.
Worthy of Godard's early use of video, it is definitely worth a look.
A
paper pullout with an essay on the film is the only extra.
Joshua
Rofe's Lost
For Life
(2014)
was being produced just as a new law that said juveniles cannot be
held in prison for life like adults was passed. This well-researched
documentary rightly argues that the laws against young killers
(including some who were not malicious about it, i.e. accidents) had
gone overboard and too far since the beginning of the Reagan Era and
many lives were being thrown away systematically and carelessly.
Running a rich 74 minutes, it was a bold work to make and I think
most of its suggestions and even arguments add up, thus the ruling
that vindicates the points Rofe tries to make here. A well-rounded
work worth going out of your way to see it, I hope Rofe gets to
follow this up with a sequel and takes on new subjects down the line.
There
are no extras.
Clare
Lewins' I
Am Ali
(2014) seems
like it might just be another piece on the legendary boxer Muhammad
Ali, as there have been so many and one might think everything has
been said on the subject. It has not. Playing as a smart
continuation on the many solid programs (and Michael Mann biopic with
Will Smith in one of the truly great performances of his career), we
get a great set of new interviews, rare audio and rare film and video
footage that puts together an impressive new portrait and new side of
the man, his life, his accomplishments, his loves and how many people
love him.
Yes,
this can overdo it a bit with the superlatives, but it it all sincere
and honest. It is also well thought out, well edited, covers
familiar events in new ways and key people in Ali's life (from his
family to friends and opponents alike) are interviewed and the
questions asked are not always lite. Boxing is part of this, of
course, but an effort for more biography outside of that is made and
that works very nicely here. This one is definitely worth a look.
Extras
include Digital
HD Ultraviolet Copy for PC, PC portable and iTunes capable devices,
while the Blu-ray adds five featurette clips of scenes not included
in the main film for reasons of time and space.
I wish some could have fit.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Ali
is easily the image winner, even when some of the archival footage is
rough, but much of it also looks good and has been sourced
first-generation. The 1.33 X 1 image on Level
might have been the softest presentation here, but it is not bad for
its age and analog video origins, outdoing the softer, rougher,
anamorphically
enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Freeload.
That has more on-the-fly video than expected. That leaves the rest
of the anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image DVDs tying with Level
as second-best looking on the list.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Ali
may have a mix of old analog monophonic audio with its never stereo
audio, but add the use of music and good editing and you get the best
audio presentation here.
Beyond
and Babylon
have lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes, but they only go so far despite
sounding decent, but also have their share of analog monophonic
audio, so the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on
Babylon
does not differ that much. It does have a good use of music as well,
yet is matched by the rest of the DVDs with their lossy
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo mixes.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
