When I first saw Costa-Gavras' monumental political thriller, Z, in the winter of 1969, I was totally unprepared for the physically dynamic reaction that the film would receive from the audience -- an audience that, as they were still in the theater with end credits rolling, was fully prepared to launch a pre-emptive strike on any governmental or political organization that seemed to be responsible for similar foul play.
Z is brilliant filmmaking of the highest order, and I was thrilled that it would finally receive the Criterion treatment after a less than acceptable release on DVD by another firm.
To put it bluntly, I love this film!
But somewhere between the HD transfer supervised by cinematographer Raoul Coutard at Eclair in France and the standard definition DVD as released, something has gone awry. I would bet that Mr. Coutard approved the HD transfer and never saw anything derived from it.
In a very un-Criterion release, Z is picked up the old digital "force field" effect seen in releases such as Cold Mountain and Gangs of New York, both of which I believe came from Laser Pacific in LA. A perusal of the credits does not show Laser as having anything to do with this. I should make the point that the "field force" here is far from that of CM or GoNY, is merely annoying and in no way even close to those horrific interpretations of the films.
So where did the problems come into play?
Compression? Digital clean-up of certain scenes?
I can't be certain, as the problem seems to come and go, almost as if someone attempted to affect or fix certain shots or sequences, while possibly not touching, or at least using a more delicate hand on others.
To my eye, Z verges on unpleasant, as the "force fields" have a tendency, at least on a large screen, to take the viewer out of one of the most intense and immersive experiences ever brought to the cinema.
I'd love to be able to see this film on Blu-ray, which hopefully would have none of the SD problems. As it is, I'm not a happy camper.
Properly set by Criterion at a 1.66:1 aspect ratio, and with all of the typical Criterion goodies, Z should have been a splendid release. As it is, while I can give my highest recommendation to the film, I find the quality of this DVD limited to viewing at 50 inches or less. If that's the size of your monitor, you should have no problems. And understand that going in, you're in for one of the most intense cinematic experiences of a lifetime.
RAH
Edited by Robert Harris - 10/11/09 at 5:31pm
