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Released by: Well Go USA
Released on: May 14, 2013.
Director: Feng Xiaogang
Cast: Adrien Brody, Tim Robbins, Zhang Guoli, Chen Daoming
Year: 2012
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The Movie:
Director Feng Xiaogang's Back To 1942 is a huge film. It's got a massive cast, it has awesome and sweeping camera movements, a moving score and loads of costumes. It pays great attention to period detail and even if it's not particularly colorful it looks really great. It's also almost three hours long and falls prey to the same problem a lot of recent Chinese epics fall prey to - character issues.
We learn that in 1942 a horrible drought wreaks havoc across the Henan province of China. As the Japanese attack, the Chinese government must try and figure out what to do not only to defend itself but to allow its populace to survive. As the government puts more and more of its resources into the war effort, people start starving to death and the famine stars to affect not only the peasant population but also wealthy landowners like Fan Dianyuan (Zhang Guoli). When a gang of bandits show up because they know he has some food, Fan's son winds up dead in the ensuing chaos.
Eventually a western reporter named Theodore Harold White (Adrian Brody) writes an expose on the problems in Henan, detailing the atrocities and mistreatment that the population of Henan suffered. He tries to talk General Chiang Kai-shek (Chen Daoming) into allowing some of the grain meant for his soldiers to get into the hands of the civilians while a local priest named Father Thomas Megan (Tim Robbins) does what he can to help those in need.
An impressive technical achievement, Back To 1942 winds up a little cold and distant. Initially the plot focuses in on Fan's family and contrasts their experiences with some of the less fortunate citizens but soon it starts to cast a much wider net until eventually there are too many characters introduced too quickly for us to care as much as we should for their respective plights. Of course we understand that famine is bad and that it's wrong for the powers that be to feed the war machine in place of the civilian population but we don't get to know people the way we should in order to relate to them on a more personal level. This hurts the movie, and while attempts to add more personality by bringing in Brody as the crusading reporter and Robbins as the kindly priest are admirable and their performances just fine, it's not quite enough.
As far as visuals go, some dodgy CGI pops up here and there and unfortunately sticks out like a sore thumb but otherwise, the movie does earn top marks there. The score is great, the cinematography impressive and there's a whole lot to like about the way that this picture has been put together. It's superbly edited and for a long movie, the pacing isn't bad at all. Though the human element is lacking, there's appreciable artistic skill evident throughout the movie and it does do a good job of shedding some light on an aspect of history that is likely going to be new to most western viewers, or at the very least is an aspect that hasn't been done to death. Ultimately Back To 1942 is a movie worth seeing despite its flaws, particularly if you're a fan of historical dramas.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The AVC encoded 2.35.1 widescreen 1080p high definition picture on this disc is excellent. Detail is strong, colors are reproduced really nicely, even if the color scheme leans towards a lot of drab hues and is heavy on grey and brown. Black levels are nice and deep throughout the presentation. Generally the transfer excels in areas of both detail and texture. There are no issues at all with dirt, debris or visual detriments of any kind and the disc is well authored, showing no noise reduction or heavy edge enhancement. Outside of some slight shimmer here and there, the movie looks excellent in high definition.
The main audio option on the disc is a Chinese language (some parts are spoken in English) track provided in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio with removable subtitles available in English and in Chinese. The lossless track here is a good one, though there isn't quite as much rear channel activity as you might expect. The score is spread around perfectly with some nice pans thrown in for dramatic effect while bass response is consistent tight and strong. All in all, this is a nice, well directed mix that does a fine job with the movie. An optional Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mix is also included.
Extras are limited to a trailer for the feature, trailers for a few other Well Go USA properties, menus and chapter selection.
The Final Word:
If you've enjoyed other recent Chinese historical epics, you'll likely enjoy this one as well. It's a massive, sprawling film with some beautiful location photography, great sets and costumes and some fine performances - all of which make it worth seeing even if it falls short in offering up the kind of characters you really want to latch onto. Well Go's Blu-ray is short on extras but it looks and sounds quite good.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
