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Released by: Camera Obscura
Released on: April, 2015.
Director: Carlo Lizzani
Cast: Daniele Asti, Brigitte Skay, Giuliano Cesareo, Pietro Brambilla, Pietro Giannuso
Year: 1976
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The Movie:
Directed by Carlo Lizzani in 1976, San Babila Ore 20: Un Delitto Inutile is a crime film set against the backdrop of an Italy caught in the midst of violent social change. The fascists are waging war against the communists and the communists are waging war against the fascists and a lot of different people are finding themselves unwittingly caught in the middle of all of this, whether they want to be or not.
Enter four young people from separate well off families - Alfredo (Pietro Giannuso), Fabrizio (Pietro Brambilla), Michele (Giuliano Cesareo) and Franco (Daniele Asti) - whose political leanings are decidedly right to the point where they're basically Neo-Nazis. The movie basically follows these four thugs as they take advantage politically charged chaos and essentially go on a crime spree. The start by launching an assault of sorts on a local high school and then from there spend some time committing various acts of mischief and public indecency. As they day goes on, the cops, who sympathize with quartet's political leanings, more or less leave them alone but this only gives the four thugs the impetus to take things to further extremes. Once a young woman named Lalla (Brigitte Skay) has been roughed up and raped they set out to pull off their big finale and blow up a union office. When they take things too far and an planned murder brings things crashing down around them, those aforementioned cops are going to have to get involved.
Set to an interesting score courtesy of the one and only Ennio Morricone, Lizzani's film wears its own political bias on its cinematic sleeve but it's a fascinating product of its time. Shot pretty much entirely on location in Milan using primarily non-actors in a lot of the parts. The location shooting looks like it was done fast and on the fly, the reactions of those around the events happening relay this, and because of this and the fast, haphazard shooting style the movie almost feels like a documentary at times. It works though, as the story unfolds and the plot develops we're pulled into this world and the script manages to give us enough character development and conflict that arises between the four to keep things interesting and thought provoking.
As political as it might all get, the film never feels preachy or self-serving. Events are simply portrayed 'as is' and while the characters do eventually get what is coming to them, the conclusion feels inevitable rather than heavy handed. Though the film hardly paints the cops involved in all of this in a positive light, it stops short of accusing them of letting the quartet get away with all that they get away with because of their family's social stature. It implies this, but does leave it up to the viewer to decide if that's what is actually happening here or not.
The performances have a naturalism to them that serves the story and setting well. Pietro Brambilla, who is probably best known for his work in Pupi Avati's The House With The Laughing Windows, is in fine form here, while his three cohorts all appear to have been played by some of those aforementioned non-actors. Brigitte Skay, from Mario Bava's Twitch Of The Death Nerve and Four Times That Night is good in her part as the rape victim, her scene in particular stands out as the most disturbing in the film.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Camera Obscura's transfer for San Babila is a stunner. The AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer is framed at 1.85.1 widescreen and it just might be their best looking effort so far. Detail is outstanding and clarity just as good. Grain is present but never distracting and there's almost no print damage at all, the image is remarkably clean. Color reproduction looks great and black levels are nice and strong as well. Shadow detail is good, there are no problems with crush or mpeg compression artifacts and the image is free of any obvious noise reduction, aliasing or edge enhancement. This is wonderfully film like and a really impressive picture.
The only audio option for the film is an Italian language DTS-HD Mono track with optional subtitles provided in English and German. For a single channel track this one shapes up well. Clarity is good and there are no issues with any hiss or distortion. The score has good range and depth to it and the English subtitles are easy to read and free of any typos.
Extras start off with an audio commentary that comes courtesy of film historians Marcus Stiglegger and Kai Naumann. Presented in German with optional English subtitles, this is a pretty thorough track that does a fine job of detailing the film's history and also in explaining the social context under which the events in the movie take place. So in alongside the standard trivia about who did what and where, we get some insight into why the movie plays out in the particular style we see in the finished product and some interesting discussion as to how what would have then been current political events wound up shaping the picture. There's also some interesting talk about Morricone's work on the score, some examination of the careers of the various cast members and some talk about Carlo Lizzani's work as a director as well.
Also on hand is a sixty-five minute long piece in which assistant director Gilberto Squizzato tells his story. He shares some information on how he got into filmmaking and then how he wound up meeting and working with Lizzani. He then goes on to elaborate in a fair bit of detail what made his work with Lizzani different from a lot of what their fellow filmmakers were doing in Italy at the time. There are some great stories here, as they preferred to use non-actors in a lot of their movies and shoot as much on location as possible this could sometimes lead to trouble. He then looks back and offers some reflections on this film and his experiences working on it in front of and behind the camera.
Rounding out the extras are a sizable still gallery of ephemera, an interesting gallery of location photos showing them as they were when the movie was made contrasted with how they look now, the film's original theatrical trailer, and menus (available in English and in German) and chapter stops. The Blu-ray is packaged in a sturdy inner tray that fits nicely inside the cardboard slipcover packaging that also holds an insert booklet containing an essay on the film entitled 'Carlo Lizzani - an Italian Director' by Christian KeBler that is also presented in both English and German.
The Final Word:
San Babila Ore 20: Un Delitto Inutile is an unorthodox Italian crime movie to be sure but it's very well made and quite riveting. Well-acted, really nicely shot and briskly paced it's a grim film but so too is it very much worth seeing. Camera Obscura's Blu-ray is a thing of beauty. The disc has got some great extras on it and it looks and sounds fantastic. Region B capable Euro-cult fans should not let this one pass them by.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
