Salvador Allende (2004/Icarus DVD) + His Final 24 Hours series: Jim Morrison + John F. Kennedy Jr. + Tupac
Shakur (MVD Visual DVDs)
Picture: C/C+ Sound: C/C+ Extras: C/D (24 series) Episodes: B-/C+
And now
for a look at two continuing biographies with different intents and results.
Salvador Allende (2004/Icarus DVD) is another
smart documentary by Patricio Guzman, who previously discussed the popular
Chilean leader in the older, impressive Battle
Of Chile, which we reviewed at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9363/The+Battle+Of+Chile+(1975+-+1978/I
Expounding
upon points previously made, we learn
more about this people’s leader and how he ruled Chile until a 1973 coup killed
him. He announced a totally socialist
policy upon taking office in 1970 and the U.S. (with Nixon in power) was not
happy with this and did everything to get him out of power. Their early efforts were not as successful as
they had hoped, so they kept trying and the means became more severe until the
desired results. We also learn about the
man, his history, more about Chile
and the aftermath in a history lesson that is pretty good for the most part.
The letterboxed
1.78 X 1 image is a little softer throughout than expected, while the Dolby
Digital 2.0 sound is barely stereo, has audio issues, rough archive audio and
location dropouts, so expect the combination to be rough. Extras include the Photo Gallery Chile: 64 – 73 from the director’s
collection, text filmmaker bio/filmography and trailer for Nostalgia For The Light.
Then
there is our third round of the mixed Final
24 Hours series, this time featuring watchable, separate releases on Jim Morrison, John F. Kennedy Jr. and Tupac
Shakur. It is more of the same,
offering some good moments in their exploration of people gone before their
time, but again we get no extras and the same exact picture and sound
quality. You can work backwards with
this link.
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10285/Final+24+Hours+Series+(Hunter+S
A little
exploitive, the question is, what is the difference between what these shows do
and what political films (with their own possible propaganda) do with their
subjects? The differences are not as
wide as we would like to think and when it comes to anyone who died young, that
“what if they lived” idea can get played out very quickly. These could have all been better, but they
could have been worse.
- Nicholas Sheffo
