Out on Blu-ray and 4K UHD August 27, 2024
After his father’s arrest during the Spanish Civil War, a young boy must learn a new life and decide where he stands between his parents’ clashing ideologies.
Written by Fernando Arrabal and Claudine Lagrive, based on Arrabal’s novel, and directed by Arrabal, this film is quite the product of its era and is honestly a bit boring in terms of how it’s written and how the subjects are approached. The writing is ok, and the direction works, but something feels off or missing, leading the film not fully connecting and the film losing the attention well before it’s over. Of course, fans of this genre of film should be fascinated with this one as it is well-crafted and does have some brutal imagery here and there.
The cast here is great, all giving fantastic performances, with Mahdi Chaouch giving a performance that helps keep some of the attention on the film, mainly attention on himself. He is quite young here and turns in work that feels much more mature than his young years. Núria Espert as his mother is oddly fascinating to watch, moving from emotionally grabbing the viewer to being completely cold at times. The cast overall is doing ok with their parts and the film itself, giving what they can and clearly following direction.
The film here has two looks, one in the start and one later on, creating a dichotomy between the two time periods. The cinematography by Jean-Marc Ripert is both stark and pretty, it does pull the eye in and it doesn’t flinch from the harder scenes and the brutality of some of the subjects and themes here. This is cinematography with balls of steel, and it really adds to the film without stealing the spotlight from the story.
Viva La Muerte is one of those important films that should be seen, but it’s also aged in not the best of ways for the story and pacing. It’s a bit of a difficult watch for some of the scenes, but also due to that pacing. Overall, an important film, one that is not for everyone, and a film that is sometimes a bit of a challenge to watch and keep watching due to losing the attention between the more brutal imagery sequences.
This new release from Radiance Films here is a very beautiful one with a new 4K restoration that was done with director Arrabal’s supervision. The new release here has a few features including a booklet with new writing and an archival interview. The disc itself has a short documentary about Arrabal and the making of Viva La Muerte and a feature length documentary on Arrabal, both highlights of this release.