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This topic comprises 4 pages: 1 2 3 4
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Author
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Topic: Baraka - Blu-ray
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 11-03-2008 10:34 PM
Baraka has been brought up from time to time in discussions on Film-Tech, usually in relation to stuff about 70mm or 70mm screenings of the movie.
Some are certainly aware a new Blu-ray version of the movie was released last week by MPI Home Video. Baraka is not a conventional movie. There is no dialog. No dramatic narrative. It's more like a 97 minute long work of life across the globe presented as art. Some people will be bored to tears by that. And that's their loss. I consider Baraka to be a profound, thought provoking film that is emotionally moving at times.
The new Blu-ray version of Baraka has earned very high praise for its video quality. Bill Hunt at The Digital Bits said, "quite simply, Baraka is the best looking live action Blu-ray release I have EVER seen." Roger Ebert called the Baraka BD, "the finest video disc I have ever viewed or ever imagined." Ebert also said "Baraka by itself is sufficient reason to acquire a Blu-ray player." Video Business published an article about how movie critics are being won over to Blu-ray by new releses like The Godfather Trilogy and Baraka.
I received my copy of Baraka in the mail today. I've watched the movie twice already (along with the two featurettes on the disc). It goes without saying Baraka is best viewed in a good movie theater with 70mm projection. Still, the video quality on the BD version is pretty incredible. Overall, it has the best looking imagery I've seen yet on the BD format. It's like a high quality coffee table book of world imagery come to life. The only flaws I noticed were a couple of overlooked specks of dirt and a little grain on the otherwise very cool motion controlled time lapse shots at the end of the movie. This Blu-ray movie would be perfect for electronic store demo material if not for some tribal nudity and a couple of scenes with disturbing footage.
A 65mm interpositive of Baraka was scanned at 8K (8192 X 3706 pixels) by FotoKem labs and the resulting 30 terabytes of scanned data was treated via digital intermediate at that high resolution. The down-sampled 1080p/24 imagery squeezes in more intricate detail than what would have been achieved with a straight HD quality scan or even a 4K scan. New 65mm protection prints and a new 70mm print were created with the 8K digital intermediate. The Blu-ray disc has a "8K UltraDigital HD" banner across the top of the packaging. That may confuse some folks.
The audio for Baraka was remixed and remastered from the original 24-track recordings. The disc has a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 channel track in 24-bit 96kHz resolution. It also has a Dolby Digital 5.1 track. The audio mix consists mostly of music. It has some good atmospheric audio effects too. The mix also pounds out some hefty bass from time to time.
The only complaint I have about Baraka is its packaging. MPI Home Video went with an eco-friendly paper board thing with soy based inks or some such hoopla. Unfortunately it isn't designed to hold the disc very well. There's just a slit on inside of the case holding half the disc and making contact with the playing surface. It just seems cheap. Lots of people are simply going to store the movie disc in a better case and toss this paper board thing in a closet or even in the trash. Sort of defeats the purpose of having a "green" movie disc package doesn't it?
If you're open to watching an unconventional movie, Baraka is definitely worth buying or at least renting if your neighborhood video store has it at all.
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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today
Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99
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posted 11-04-2008 03:56 PM
Does it have fancy menus, director commentaries, outtakes, a Spanish language track, trailers, a "making of" featurette, BD-Live games, trivia, a fold-out map, interviews with the cast and lots of unskippable FBI warnings? I cannot live without any of those great features that DVD and Blu-ray have brought us to make the format soooooo much better than LaserDisc and VHS.
I do appreciate the fact that Baraka is Ultradigital. That means it is even more digital than just regular digital. That rocks!
quote: Bobby Henderson
Was Earth photographed in the splendor of 70mm?
By that logic the IMAX scenes in Batman The Black Knight should look friggin' incredible, blowing the hell outta Baraka with their megadigitalness.
quote: Brad Miller
He has successfully set the standard for which ALL other blu-rays are judged.
Even Total Recall?
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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today
Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99
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posted 11-04-2008 08:06 PM
I decided I wanted this, so I went to my local retailer and selected the least-crushed copy I could find. I bolted home and popped it in. I expected a documentary on Barak Obama, hence the name, but instead it was something completely different. It should be called "National Geographic on a Disc". That is exactly what it is, nothing more, nothing less. Good thing National Geographic is pretty cool (though I don't know why people collect them like crazy). Featuring a travel budget of more than a hundred dollars the filmmaker just went wherever and basically turned the camera on.
The imagery is spectacular. Some of it is a tad awkward, though. The filmmaker's sole directing ability seems to be to tell others to stare into the camera with a blank expression for 45 seconds. Ummm, OK... cut? Next scene, please? Hello? Why are these three girls staring at me? Did I accidentally press pause? Did my disc freeze? Can that much 65mm film even fit into a camera to last this long? Anyway, aside from those moments it is quite awesome. The image quality doesn't seem to hit you right away (especially with the super-grainy night scene at the beginning), but it definitely grows on you. It just gets better and better.
And how about that 24-bit, 96Khz audio? It's certainly not CD quality. In fact, it is quite amazing. Some of them music is quite awesome and sometimes even a bit spooky. Very spatial, tight, ambient and fitting. If you haven't already taken out a second mortgage, be sure to do so as soon as possible to upgrade your audio system so it can play back this lossless track instead of the default Dolby Digital track.
The disc comes in a paper box because the manufacturer is cheap. Not being one to remain content with mediocrity, I made my own box by scanning the original in an ultradigital 8K process (and removed the recycling logos while I was at it):
I'd definitely appreciate it if you all could be a bit more jealous of me than usual.
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