Fatherland isn’t great but the performance from lead actor Gerulf Griffiths wasn’t bad and the story at least held some interest. That said, this really isn’t my cup of tea but might be worth checking out at some point. The Blu-ray released by Twilight Time offers so-so video/audio transfers and sadly no bonus material to peruse.
Fatherland
(1986)
REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall
Genre(s): Drama
Screen Archives | NR – 111 min. – $24.95 | November 10, 2015
** Click Here to Purchase Fatherland on Blu-ray from Amazon.com **
PLOT SYNOPSIS
Fatherland (aka Singing the Blues in Red) is singular director Ken Loach’s excursion into the world of European cinema — written by Trevor Griffiths (Reds) — about an East German singer-songwriter (GERULF PANNACH) who exchanges the political repression of his home country for the new pressures of capitalism in the West. The search for his lost father and a skittish relationship with journalist (FABIENNE BABE) only add to the young artist’s turmoil.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 0/5
This release, like others comes with a 6-page essay booklet. Unfortunately no other features were included.
VIDEO – 3.0/5
Twilight Time releases Fatherland onto Blu-ray shown in its original 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio and a 1080p high-definition transfer. It’s not the prettiest looking film and there didn’t seem to be a lot of restoration done as there were the occasional scratch marks, detail isn’t very sharp and colors are a tad drab though that could’ve been the director’s intent.
AUDIO – 3.25/5
The included German and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track is serviceable but nothing special. Dialogue levels aren’t bad and the soundtrack/score make use of the limited lossless track yet it’s not quite dynamic nor provides much depth. However, there weren’t any apparent hisses so it’s clean enough.
OVERALL – 2.5/5
Overall, Fatherland isn’t great but the performance from lead actor Gerulf Griffiths wasn’t bad and the story at least held some interest. That said, this really isn’t my cup of tea but might be worth checking out at some point. The Blu-ray released by Twilight Time offers so-so video/audio transfers and sadly no bonus material to peruse.
Published: 11/17/2015
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.