The English: Dolby Digital 5.1 track is described audio.
English subtitles are English and English SDH. All subtitling is in white font.
The only extra is the Sony Pictures Classics trailer, in Italian with English texts and burned-in English subtitles. However, the usual trailers ("Previews") for other Sony Pictures Classics titles (which play before the disc loads the main menu) are also included.
Code:
Total Video
Title Codec Length Movie Size Disc Size Bitrate Bitrate Main Audio Track Secondary Audio Track
----- ------ ------- -------------- -------------- ------- ------- ------------------ ---------------------
00002.MPLS AVC 2:30:37 30,794,115,072 33,194,652,949 27.26 21.70 DTS-HD Master 5.1 3542Kbps (48kHz/24-bit)
I just watched this tonight and it's a brilliant film. Pierfrancesco Favino is great as Tommaso Buscetta and the two and a half hours just flew by. If you like gangster movies or courtroom dramas or movies based on real events, then this is for you as this film checks all three of those boxes.
However, I must point out one flaw in the Sony release, that the subtitles are fractionally out of sync with the dialogue. This occurs in both the English and English SDH tracks (I did not check French or Spanish), and is most noticeable when only one or two words are being subtitled at a time, since the subtitles are about half a second late. It seems to improve as the film goes on, but that's probably because there is more longer, formal dialogue and when complete sentences are in use the issue is barely noticeable. I have a feeling this might be down to some framerate conversion Sony did on the master, but it could just be that the subtitles are slightly improperly timed. At the very end of the credits there is subtitle credit to Susan Adler who is also credited in the end credits of the film itself, so I assume these subtitles are an identical script to the English subtitles on the Italian BD.
For what it's worth, there is a scan of the Italian disc online, however the source is an unscrupulous site, so bear that in mind:
assuming this information is accurate, then the film runs at the same framerate on both discs, which is interesting as it looked a touch video-y at times as though it was a 25fps-->24fps conversion. The Sony does have a slightly higher video bitrate, as well as 24-bit audio, but I'm curious if the English subtitles are fully in sync on the Italian disc. I'm also just now noticing that the film is almost two minutes longer on the Italian release, which might be distributor logos (the Sony only has the SPC logo on both ends of the film and they tacked on a 12-second copyright warning after the film), but then, there were a lot of companies mentioned in the opening and end credits already.
I think I'm going to get the Italian disc to compare it. Aside from the lack of English-friendly extras, I was initially put off by the low-ish bitrate, and I've noticed this is a bit of a habit amongst smaller European labels to not use the disc space provided, but the Sony is guilty of the same offense. The Sony also does have banding in at least a couple of places, which might be inherent to the digital source, but might not, and since I'm not particularly sensitive to banding, I assume there must be more of it than I saw.
That said, small issues like this aside, and forgiving the subtitle sync issue, the Sony disc is pretty good, although it's very disappointing that SPC could not or would not do extras for this film, as they usually include a Q&A or an audio commentary. There was also apparently a Behind the Scenes featurette on the Italian BD that they could have subtitled and ported over, and as it was the only extra there, its omission is doubly disappointing.
I guess fans of the film, and there should be many, as it is terrific and just won six David di Donatello awards (the Italian version of the Oscars), should hope ideally for a UK BD release with the extras that this film deserves, but for now, at least, the Sony disc will do quite well, barebones though it is.
Sounds wonderful but I'm going to wait for the prices to go down at least 50%. That is, if they do sales which I don't know anything about Sony Pictures.
[Show spoiler]I just watched this tonight and it's a brilliant film. Pierfrancesco Favino is great as Tommaso Buscetta and the two and a half hours just flew by. If you like gangster movies or courtroom dramas or movies based on real events, then this is for you as this film checks all three of those boxes.
However, I must point out one flaw in the Sony release, that the subtitles are fractionally out of sync with the dialogue. This occurs in both the English and English SDH tracks (I did not check French or Spanish), and is most noticeable when only one or two words are being subtitled at a time, since the subtitles are about half a second late. It seems to improve as the film goes on, but that's probably because there is more longer, formal dialogue and when complete sentences are in use the issue is barely noticeable. I have a feeling this might be down to some framerate conversion Sony did on the master, but it could just be that the subtitles are slightly improperly timed. At the very end of the credits there is subtitle credit to Susan Adler who is also credited in the end credits of the film itself, so I assume these subtitles are an identical script to the English subtitles on the Italian BD.
For what it's worth, there is a scan of the Italian disc online, however the source is an unscrupulous site, so bear that in mind:
assuming this information is accurate, then the film runs at the same framerate on both discs, which is interesting as it looked a touch video-y at times as though it was a 25fps-->24fps conversion. The Sony does have a slightly higher video bitrate, as well as 24-bit audio, but I'm curious if the English subtitles are fully in sync on the Italian disc. I'm also just now noticing that the film is almost two minutes longer on the Italian release, which might be distributor logos (the Sony only has the SPC logo on both ends of the film and they tacked on a 12-second copyright warning after the film), but then, there were a lot of companies mentioned in the opening and end credits already.
I think I'm going to get the Italian disc to compare it. Aside from the lack of English-friendly extras, I was initially put off by the low-ish bitrate, and I've noticed this is a bit of a habit amongst smaller European labels to not use the disc space provided, but the Sony is guilty of the same offense. The Sony also does have banding in at least a couple of places, which might be inherent to the digital source, but might not, and since I'm not particularly sensitive to banding, I assume there must be more of it than I saw.
That said, small issues like this aside, and forgiving the subtitle sync issue, the Sony disc is pretty good, although it's very disappointing that SPC could not or would not do extras for this film, as they usually include a Q&A or an audio commentary. There was also apparently a Behind the Scenes featurette on the Italian BD that they could have subtitled and ported over, and as it was the only extra there, its omission is doubly disappointing.
I guess fans of the film, and there should be many, as it is terrific and just won six David di Donatello awards (the Italian version of the Oscars), should hope ideally for a UK BD release with the extras that this film deserves, but for now, at least, the Sony disc will do quite well, barebones though it is.
I really liked this film too, did you buy the Italian disc to compare?
I just watched it, and yes, it's hard to follow. I was exhausted by the time it ended. I know that a second viewing is in order, but I don't think that I will EVER watch it again. Yikes. It's a cross between The Irishman and Gomorrah (2008). Still, I'm happy that I saw it.
This film is sadly somewhat cursed on home video as made evident by the very lazy and disappointing effort by Sony Pictures Classics. I thought that One Fine Morning was an outlier with its horrendous encoding in Sony's otherwise great output. But no, The Traitor came before and looks equally bad in addition to the out-of-sync subtitles.
Sadly I've forgotten about the subtitle issue when I ordered my copy.
I then ordered my local German release (Pandora Film) in the hopes of an improvement.
The difference in clarity and detail is striking - their encoding is fantastic and the German subtitles are in sync. The problem that prevents me from recommending this release though is Pandora's baffling choice to translate every single on-screen title into German. There are lots of them spread throughout the film which doesn't make it easier. I wonder what they were thinking - translating every title card and text in the film but leaving alone the credits.
Then, there is the French disc. I got that one as well. I just had to.
And thank God, this is it - this is the best disc so far on the market. Equally great encoding like the Pandora but the label Ad Vitam left all titles alone, meaning they appear in beautiful Italian.
There are no English subtitles on the disc, but having a (within the limits of the Blu-ray format) perfect master for the video and a healthy audio as well is great news for fans of Marco Bellocchio and his really good film.
I hope those with the ability to remux and the French speakers enjoy their discs!
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The Traitor (2019)
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