Abraham's Valley
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Movie Reviews of Abraham's Valley
Movie Review: Sublime Film, average DVD transposition
Summary: 4 Stars
Decidedly inspired by 'Madame Bovary' but more closely adapted from its namesake Agustina Bessa-Luís' novel, Abraham Valley is a cinematic masterpiece, tracing more than the main character's ennui de vivre (my apologies if it sounds pretentious...) to encompass a whole repressed way of living that is set in the second half of the 20th century but might easily feel familiar to any 18th century Flaubert. The cinematography and spectacular scenery of the Douro valley in northern Portugal (where all of the exteriors were shot) are a work of art all by itself.
It's a pity that the DVD doesn't add much more to this gem of a movie. Still - that should be no reason to keep you from having it in your collection.
Movie Review: This may not be the director's cut
Summary: 2 Stars
If the running length is 187 minutes as claimed, then the film has been cut by about 16 minutes. Perhaps the distributor trimmed the film to make it fit on a single disc? Cutting a single frame out of a Manoel de Oliveira film is inexcusable. The film should be seen in its proper aspect ratio and running time.Movie Review: I could live with the video transfer if not for the sound
Summary: 1 Stars
This is a great film, but I am going to try to return the DVD as the soundtrack is dubbed in French. It isn't the original Portugese.I don't own the U.S. VHS and don't know if it is also French, but I DO own a transferred copy of the U.K. PAL VHS and it is most clearly in Portugese. Even the pitch of the narrator's voice is different between the two versions.
I don't know if this was deliberate (I hope not, since the DVD box claims it is Portugese) or if they used the wrong film master, but it makes a tremendous difference.
Also, the sound is distorted in part of chapter 4, but I could even live with that if it was in the right language.
I was really looking forward to this and I'm too upset to even come up with a sappy response for the Where in the world are you? box as is my custom.
Movie Review: WARNING The DVD Transfer is Faulty
Summary: 1 Stars
This is a great movie and one that people should see. However, Vanguard Cinema has transferred the film FLAT when it should have been transferred SCOPE, which means all of the actors are squeezed and look like they are tall thin aliens. It's very distracting and considering the film is 3 hours long this ruins the film. I wish for this film to be seen and if the VHS version is available I recommend it. UPDATE: It is possible this looks okay on 16x9 TV's because the image then would s-t-r-e-t-c-h out.