The rise and fall of Miguelín (real life bullfighting legend Miguel Mateo), a renowned toreador who lived his life right at the very center of the ring.

CRITIQUE

I’d never even heard of Francesco Rosi’s The Moment of Truth before the press release from Criterion came along announcing its Blu-ray release, so when I slipped it into the PS3 I had no idea what to expect. What I got was some of the most gut-wrenching, visceral and emotionally difficult material that I’d had the opportunity to experience in ages. The opening 15 minutes were unlike anything I could have imagined, and by the time they were over I almost wasn’t positive I could watch the remainder of the movie itself.

Glad I did, because Rosi’s epic achievement is certainly a one-of-a-kind spectacle that can take a person’s breath away. Single-minded, direct and not exactly with a ton on its mind, the movie is nonetheless a profound treatise on the price of greatness that sticks to your ribs like few other motion pictures. It is a grittily operatic aria to its central character, the glories he rises to and the pits he falls into as grimy as they are euphoric.

Yet the movie isn’t for everyone. The bullfighting scenes are real, and watching the animal die – that’s right, die – at the start of the picture had my eyes popping out of my head. This is tough stuff, and Rosi doesn’t compromise for an instant, and staying with the film from start to finish is far more difficult than I initially expected it to be.

But The Moment of Truth is one of those lost, or at least little-known, classics anyone who considers themselves a fan of quality international cinema simply must see. This is an engaging, documentary-like epic that held me transfixed, and as soon as my stomach settles I’m even considering giving it a second look right as soon as I finish writing this review.

THE VIDEO

The Moment of Truth is presented on a dual-layer 50GB Blu-ray MPEG-4 AVC Video with a 2.35:1/1080p transfer. As stated in the included booklet: “This new high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from a 35mm interpositive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter and flicker were manually removed using MTI’s DRS and Pixel Farm’s PFClean, while Image Systems’ DVNR was used for small dirt, grain and noise reduction.”

THE AUDIO

The Moment of Truth comes to Blu-ray in Italian LPCM 1.0 Mono and includes optional English subtitles. Again, from the included booklet: “The original monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from a 35mm optical soundtrack negative. Clicks, thumps, hiss, and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube's integrated workstation.”

THE EXTRAS

There are only two extras here, which I realize is rather miniscule for a Criterion release. Thankfully, the 2004 Interview with director Francesco Rosi (13:52) is pretty awesome, and as bonus featurettes go this one gets extremely high marks. Rounding out the set is a 16-page Illustrated Booklet featuring an essay by critic Peter Matthews.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Moment of Truth isn’t for the faint of heart, that’s for certain, but it is still an engaging, oftentimes devastating and sometimes thrilling drama that spotlights a world I knew fantastically little about before slipping the disc into the Blu-ray player.