KillingFields The Killing Fields (Warner, Blu-ray), the first major western film to confront the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian genocide, stars survivor Dr. Haing S. Ngor as Cambodian national Dith Pran, translator and journalistic partner of New York Times reporter Sydney Schanberg (Sam Waterston) who was left behind when the Americans fled the country and was plunged into the terror of Pol Pot’s oppressive and brutal prison camps.

It’s the first feature directed by Roland Joffe, who came from TV and stage, and he shoots the drama with an unforced realism, lent a terrible grace by the handsome images and smooth, unobtrusive long takes of cinematographer Chris Menges, who keeps the camera panning and tracking the characters through almost every scene. It’s a remarkably effective stylistic choice, keeping the camera centered on Dith and Schanberg and the other journalists (played by John Malkovich and Julian Sands) while embracing the vivid reality of their surroundings, be it the bloody aftermath of a guerilla bombing in a busy city street, the rubble and human suffering in a village destroyed by bombs or the nervous tension and desperation of western journalists holed up in a nearly-gutted, overcrowded embassy as young, undisciplined rebel soldiers surround the gated grounds. Joffe keeps them firmly in the reality of their environments and the long takes makes the terrible consequences feel more immediate, the narrative more out of control. I think it’s still Joffe’s best film.

It earned seven Academy Award nominations and won three, for Ngor’s performance (though he is surely a leading actor in the film, he won in the “Best Supporting Actor” category), Chris Menges’ cinematography and Jim Clark’s film editing.

The Blu-ray debut is presented in a 36-page Blu-ray book with photos and production notes and features commentary by director Roland Joffe carried over from the earlier DVD release.

See a clip from the film below, after the jump.

HailMaryTwo films from the second half of Jean-Luc Godard’s career debut on Blu-ray and new DVD editions. He aroused the ire of people who wouldn’t otherwise even take notice of his films in 1985 with Hail Mary (Cohen, Blu-ray, DVD), his modern retelling the nativity. Mary (Myriem Roussel) is a basketball-playing student in Switzerland working at her father’s gas station and Joseph (Thierry Rode) a taxi-driver, and they both try to get their heads around the Virgin Mary’s pregnancy. The controversy, accompanied by the spectacle of picketers outside of small theaters screening the film, brought this small, quiet, rather spiritual little picture far more attention than anything Godard had made since Weekend. Juliette Binoche co-stars ina small role. The feature is paired with Anne-Mary Mieville’s delicate short film The Book of Mary, the tender drama of a failing marriage as seen through the eyes of a child which played with Godard’s film on its original theatrical release. French with English subtitles, with commentary by director Hal Hartley and Museum of the Moving Image Chief Curator David Schwartz, Godard’s video notebook, three additional featurettes, and a booklet with essays by critic David Sterritt and Boston University lecturer Charles Warren.

ForEverMFor Ever Mozart (Cohen, Blu-ray, DVD), from 1996, is subtitled “36 Characters in Search of History.” The maddeningly hard-to-follow story charts the odyssey of a group of actors as they car-camp through the Sarajevo war zone on the way to shoot a Musset play on the beach. When they are taken prisoner by bizarre, barbaric revolutionaries it’s like a detour through Weekend. It feels hastily scripted, spontaneously shot, and impulsively improvised, a modernist farce revolving around the art and business of filmmaking. In other words, classic Godard in the contemporary world. French with English subtitles, with commentary by critic and TIFF Cinematheque Senior Programmer James Quandt, four featurettes, and a booklet with an essay by critic and author Fergus Daly and a print interview with Godard conducted by filmmaker Hal Hartley.

ManywarsMany Wars Ago (Raro, Blu-ray, DVD), Francesco Rosi’s 1970 war drama set in the human meat grinder of World War I trench warfare, stars Mark Frechette as a dispirited lieutenant who questions the tactics of his commanding officer (Alain Cuny) and his medieval approach to warfare. This edition has been digitally mastered from a 35mm duplicate negative under the supervision of Rosi. Italian with English subtitles, with an interview with director Francesco Rosi and a booklet with notes on the film.

RififiThe first Criterion releases of the year include a pair of remastered editions of previous releases upgraded for Blu-ray, Jules Dassin’s Rififi (Criterion, Blu-ray+DVD Dual Format) and Akira Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood (Criterion, Blu-ray+DVD Dual Format), and Late Ray (Eclipse Series 40) (Eclipse, DVD), which collects The Home and the World (1984), An Enemy of the People (1989), and The Stranger (1991) in a bare-bones DVD-only release.

WickerThe Wicker Man: Final Cut (Lionsgate, Blu-ray) is the HD debut of Robin Hardy’s film, remastered from a newly-discovered print. Copies were not made available for review but it appears that this “final cut” (which was released in Britain last year) is little different from previous American releases of the film and missing scenes from an earlier “Director’s Cut” DVD release by Anchor Bay, so “final” may be a little premature, at least according to Bob Calhoun at RogerEbert.com. Includes an interview with director Robin Hardy and three featurettes.

More releases:CoalMiner

Coal Miner’s Daughter (Universal, Blu-ray)
Gorillas in the Mist (Universal, Blu-ray)
The Hurricane (1999) (Universal, Blu-ray)
Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme – 10th Anniversary Limited Edition (MVD, DVD)
Brutalization (One 7, DVD)
Erotic Blackmail (One 7, DVD)
Evil Come, Evil Go / Oh! You Beautiful Doll / Widow Blue (Vinegar Syndrome, DVD)
Abduction of an American Playgirl / Winter Heat (Vinegar Syndrome, DVD)
Judy / The Night Hustlers (Vinegar Syndrome, DVD)

Calendar of upcoming releases on Blu-ray, DVD, Digital, and VOD