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War Within (The)
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Magnolia Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (15th December 2006). |
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The Film
 It's very hard, especially after having watched this film not to include any political diatribe in my review. It's hard because there's so much that I want to open for discussion but at the same time I don't want to come off sounding like some sort of political lunatic. Besides I think that at this particular time we've heard just about all the arguments and debates, read the stories regarding terrorism in today's climate and the influence of Al Qaeda, the U.S. war on Iraq and the continued and unfortunate instability of the Middle East, right? If you missed all that in recent years, you might want to remove your head from the sand and take a look around. So without getting into something that would stretch many pages let's try and keep this one simple. "The War Within" is another in a series of relatively lower budget digital features produced in conjunction with HDNET Films, these films all shot on High-Definition digital video, some previous efforts include the documentary "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" (2005) as well as the recent Steven Soderbergh film "Bubble" (2005) among others. "The War Within" tells the story of a Pakistani Engineering student, Hassan (Ayad Akhtar). While in Paris, is kidnapped by government officials and deported, imprisoned and brutally interrogated in Karachi for is suspected terrorist activities. Formally only an intellectual supporter of jihad, Hassan eventually undergoes a radical transformation and embarks upon a terrorist mission, covertly entering the United States to join a cell based in New York City. After meticulous planning for an event of maximum devastation, all members of the cell are arrested, except for Hassan and one other, Khalid (Charles Daniel Sandoval). With nowhere else to turn, Hassan must rely on the hospitality of his friend Sayeed (Firdous Bamji), who is living the American dream with his family in New Jersey. Unknown to his friends Hassan must decide whether or not to carry out his deadly mission. From the beginning you realise this film has a very different feel to it, the filmmakers introduce the story rather quickly, and then once you realise what Hassan is going to do the film slows it's pace and bides its time. This creates an uneasy tension, and most unsettling of all you never really know when he's going to do what he has planned, I can only guess that this sense of dread I got from watching the film is about as close to what many New Yorkers must have felt like directly after 9/11, the fear of any more attacks became a tragic and very real worry. The filmmakers have managed to capture that essence extremely well. I was also sceptical as to how they planned on portraying this character I a sympathetic light. Hassan is ultimately a murderer, this was quite a stretch but I'll give the filmmakers a point for trying by showing us the torture he endured in jail in Karachi. This would, in effect justify his state of mind; never did they show his progression into fanaticism. The character of Hassan is deeply torn between his friendships and the mission he must accomplish. This drama is quite interesting to watch, his interactions and relationships are formed on a basis of lies, and you begin to think about what he must be thinking at those very moments when interacting with people that he may in fact kill. Furthermore the performances were no less than extraordinary, Ayad Akhtar who plays Hassan and is also the co-writer demonstrates an acting maturity very rarely seen in performers of his age and experience and is the guiding light of this film. With one look into his eyes and you can see the torment that his character must be going through, this is captured with a subdued presence. I found that the photography really let this film down, shooting in High-definition video is a bold move, there's still a prejudice against digital when it comes to feature films. They don't get the same wide-distribution as traditionally shot 35mm films; the technology is also still progressing. A film that is as 'moody' as this one really could have benefited with some depth of field and lighting that helps evoke that. This film looked too 'digital' and the flat image really didn't do anything for me. Although the film's run time was a manageable 93 minutes, I felt that at times the film dragged to a halt, some scenes went on longer than they had a right to. Once you make a point please move on, there's really no need to hover over it for another few minutes. A keen editor's eye could have removed and trimmed those parts and left the overall tension that amounts still intact. Overall I thought this was a fairly decent effort for both director Joseph Castelo and co-writer Ayad Akhtar but falls a little short from being a truly great film. The marketing of this film included a quote that read "The Most Controversial Film Ever" well it certainly hits a few buttons but I don't recall hearing about this film when it was released so maybe I missed that media parade?
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.78:1 this transfer is presented in high-definition 1080p / 24fps using MPEG-2 compression. This film was originally shot on a HD format for HD NET, this transfer was created from the original Digital HD source material and the result is quite good, but does leave some room for improvement. One element that is lost on these digital films is the depth of field and it's clean and flat image lacks character. However focusing on the image quality I found that the overall image was a little soft, lighter colors seem slightly blown out, just look at the train station sequence for a good example of this, the natural light appears fuzzy and bleeds over the image. This is quite an annoyance, I also found that skin tones aren't natural at times, verging on the yellow or orange hues, which is a problem I noticed with the standard DVD release. Overall the image is more defined than the standard DVD, with minute detail a lot clearer, black are deep and vivid and I found no print flaws such as dirt, no edge-enhancement and no compression noise.
Audio
Two audio tracks are included, an English DTS 5.1 surround as well as an English Dolby Digital 5.1 track. The DTS 5.1 track is a new addition but the Dolby Digital 5.1 is a direct port from the standard DVD release. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its DTS 5.1 track. This film is predominantly spoken in English however at times there are other languages spoken on-screen for this burned in subtitles in English appear on-screen. I found that with this DTS track dialogue was for the most part clear, the instances when they were not entirely clear had to do with characters speaking with heavy accents. I found this DTS track quite good in the sense that it felt like a well balanced and natural sounding track, the surrounds channels displayed subtle ambient sound that added a depth to the track that the Dolby Digital 5.1 track (reviewed from the standard DVD release) didn't entirely possess. The music was also rendered well throughout the sound space. While the majority of the dialogue was front heavy this did not disrupt the overall flow of the surround track and never felt out of place. Optional subtitles are also included in English for the hearing impaired and also in Spanish.
Extras
Magnolia have only ported over one of the extras from the standard DVD release, the audio commentary and below is a closer look at this supplement. a feature-length audio commentary with writer/director Joseph Castelo and co-writer/actor Ayad Akhtar. The participants provide a generous amount of information regarding the production and include topic such as the film's locations. The production filmed in New York City so all the scenes that take place in Paris and the jail in Karachi were all cheated. They discuss various story elements and the development of the screenplay. They researched terror cells and Al Qaeda practice for the film and occasionally made up stuff needed to fill requirements of the story. They also talk about the character relationships and motivations among other things. The tone of the track is rather sombre, the pace is not dictated entirely but what's onscreen but they try to remain screen-specific at times. Overall it's an informative track but there's nothing in here particularly amazing that you just have to listen to right away.
Overall
While the transfer quality beats out the standard DVD release, it's only marginally better, which for a high definition release is concerned is not acceptable. It's superior picture quality or nothing (If Blu-ray wants to win this format war then every studio backing this format cannot compromise and deliver the absolute best!). I was also disappointed in the lack of extras ported over, another trend I'd like to see quashed with Blu-ray.
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